Vikash ks
17th July 2009, 11:45 AM
1945: First atomic bomb detonated
On July 16, 1945, the world's first atomic bomb is secretly detonated in the desert near Los Alamos, New Mexico. Under extreme secrecy, the British and Americans began development of the bomb in 1940. In 1942, the atomic program was placed under U.S. Army control and code-named the Manhattan Project, and in 1943 a laboratory directed by U.S. physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer was opened in the New Mexico desert. By the time of the successful Trinity test in July 1945, more than $2 billion had been spent on the bomb's research and development. News of the deadly new weapon was not made public until three weeks later, when two others like it devastated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Also on this Day
622 The beginning of the Islamic calendar.
1054 Three Roman legates fracture relations between the Western and Eastern Christian churches by placing an invalid Papal Bull of Excommunication on the altar in the Hagia Sophia during Saturday afternoon divine liturgy. This is often dated as the start of the East-West Schism.
1377 Coronation of Richard II of England.
1661 The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco.
1683 Manchu Qing Dynasty naval forces under traitorous commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands.
1769 Father Junipero Serra founds Mission San Diego de Alcalα, the first mission in California. The mission later evolves into the city of San Diego.
1779 American Revolutionary War: Light infantry of the Continental Army seize a fortified British Army position in a midnight bayonet attack at the Battle of Stony Point.
1782 First performance of Mozart's opera Die Entfόhrung aus dem Serail.
1790 The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after the signing of the Residence Act.
1809 The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, lead by Pedro Domingo Murillo.
1862 American Civil War: David Farragut becomes the first United States Navy rear admiral.
1880 Dr. Emily Stowe becomes the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada.
1931 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
1935 The world's first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
1942 Holocaust: Rafle du Vel'd'Hiv: the Vichy France government orders French police officers to round up 13,000-20,000 Jews and imprison them in the Winter Velodrome.
1945 Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
1948 The city of Nazareth, supposed hometown of Jesus, capitulates to Israeli troops during Operation Dekel led by Ben Dunkelman, after little more than token resistance, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
1951 King Lιopold III of Belgium abdicates in favor of his son, Baudouin I of Belgium.
1957 United States Marine Major John Glenn flies a F8U Crusader supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds setting a new transcontinental speed record.
1965 The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.
1969 Apollo program: Apollo 11, the first manned space mission to land on the moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1973 Watergate Scandal: Former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield informs the United States Senate that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations.
1979 Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
1981 Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister until his retirement on October 31, 2003, making him Asia's longest-serving political leaders (22 years as Prime Minister of Malaysia).
1983 Sikorsky S-61 disaster: A helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
1994 Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collides with Jupiter. Impacts continue until July 22.
1999 John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife Carolyn, and sister-in-law Lauren die in a plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. The Piper Saratoga aircraft was piloted by Kennedy.
2004 Millennium Park, considered the first and most ambitious architectural project in the early 21st century for Chicago, is opened to the public by Mayor Richard M. Daley.
2007 An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 and aftershock of 6.6 occurs off the Niigata coast, Japan, killing 8 people with at least 800 injured and damaging a nuclear power plant. See 2007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake.
On July 16, 1945, the world's first atomic bomb is secretly detonated in the desert near Los Alamos, New Mexico. Under extreme secrecy, the British and Americans began development of the bomb in 1940. In 1942, the atomic program was placed under U.S. Army control and code-named the Manhattan Project, and in 1943 a laboratory directed by U.S. physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer was opened in the New Mexico desert. By the time of the successful Trinity test in July 1945, more than $2 billion had been spent on the bomb's research and development. News of the deadly new weapon was not made public until three weeks later, when two others like it devastated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Also on this Day
622 The beginning of the Islamic calendar.
1054 Three Roman legates fracture relations between the Western and Eastern Christian churches by placing an invalid Papal Bull of Excommunication on the altar in the Hagia Sophia during Saturday afternoon divine liturgy. This is often dated as the start of the East-West Schism.
1377 Coronation of Richard II of England.
1661 The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco.
1683 Manchu Qing Dynasty naval forces under traitorous commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands.
1769 Father Junipero Serra founds Mission San Diego de Alcalα, the first mission in California. The mission later evolves into the city of San Diego.
1779 American Revolutionary War: Light infantry of the Continental Army seize a fortified British Army position in a midnight bayonet attack at the Battle of Stony Point.
1782 First performance of Mozart's opera Die Entfόhrung aus dem Serail.
1790 The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after the signing of the Residence Act.
1809 The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, lead by Pedro Domingo Murillo.
1862 American Civil War: David Farragut becomes the first United States Navy rear admiral.
1880 Dr. Emily Stowe becomes the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada.
1931 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
1935 The world's first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
1942 Holocaust: Rafle du Vel'd'Hiv: the Vichy France government orders French police officers to round up 13,000-20,000 Jews and imprison them in the Winter Velodrome.
1945 Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
1948 The city of Nazareth, supposed hometown of Jesus, capitulates to Israeli troops during Operation Dekel led by Ben Dunkelman, after little more than token resistance, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
1951 King Lιopold III of Belgium abdicates in favor of his son, Baudouin I of Belgium.
1957 United States Marine Major John Glenn flies a F8U Crusader supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds setting a new transcontinental speed record.
1965 The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.
1969 Apollo program: Apollo 11, the first manned space mission to land on the moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1973 Watergate Scandal: Former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield informs the United States Senate that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations.
1979 Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
1981 Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister until his retirement on October 31, 2003, making him Asia's longest-serving political leaders (22 years as Prime Minister of Malaysia).
1983 Sikorsky S-61 disaster: A helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
1994 Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collides with Jupiter. Impacts continue until July 22.
1999 John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife Carolyn, and sister-in-law Lauren die in a plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. The Piper Saratoga aircraft was piloted by Kennedy.
2004 Millennium Park, considered the first and most ambitious architectural project in the early 21st century for Chicago, is opened to the public by Mayor Richard M. Daley.
2007 An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 and aftershock of 6.6 occurs off the Niigata coast, Japan, killing 8 people with at least 800 injured and damaging a nuclear power plant. See 2007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake.