History of nuclear weapons

The history of nuclear weapons chronicles the development of nuclear weapons—devices of enormous destructive potential which derive their energy from nuclear fission or nuclear fusion reactions—starting with the scientific breakthroughs of the 1930s which made their development possible, continuing through the nuclear arms race and nuclear testing of the Cold War, and finally with the questions of proliferation and possible use for terrorism in the early 21st century.

See also

• National weapons programs:
• Manhattan Project (USA)
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• German nuclear energy project
• TUBE ALLOYS (UK)
• Japanese atomic program
• Soviet atomic bomb project
• More information about nuclear weapons:
• Nuclear explosion
• Nuclear testing
• Nuclear weapon design
• Nuclear warfare
• Nuclear arms race
• Nuclear proliferation
• List of nuclear accidents