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Defense & Security · Recorded milestone

Atomic bomb

Recorded year1945

The Manhattan Project builds the first nuclear weapons.

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Built on

Triode amplifierRecorded · 1906requires
First nuclear reactorRecorded · 1942enables

Led to

Hydrogen bombRecorded · 1952enables
ICBMRecorded · 1957enables
Fusion ignitionRecorded · 2022requires
Star-core plasma on demandRecorded · 2022requires
Nuclear weapons dismantledForecast · ~2070requires

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.