August 2, 1939:  Einstein Sends Letter to FDR Urging Atomic Action On this day in 1939, German-born physicist Albert Einstein wrote a letter to then-president Franklin D. Roosevelt expressing his concern that Nazi Germany had already begun to create an atomic bomb with the use of uranium.  In his letter, Einstein suggested that immediate action should be taken to advance experimental atomic research – an effort that eventually resulted in the development of the nuclear weapons used by the United States on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Einstein grew to regret his letter to FDR, and founded the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists to warn the public of the dangers of nuclear weapons, promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and ultimately work toward world peace. Read Einstein’s influential letter here. Photo: Library of Congress
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August 2, 1939:  Einstein Sends Letter to FDR Urging Atomic Action

On this day in 1939, German-born physicist Albert Einstein wrote a letter to then-president Franklin D. Roosevelt expressing his concern that Nazi Germany had already begun to create an atomic bomb with the use of uranium. 

In his letter, Einstein suggested that immediate action should be taken to advance experimental atomic research – an effort that eventually resulted in the development of the nuclear weapons used by the United States on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Einstein grew to regret his letter to FDR, and founded the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists to warn the public of the dangers of nuclear weapons, promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and ultimately work toward world peace.

Read Einstein’s influential letter here.


Photo: Library of Congress

Source: to.pbs.org

July 5, 1946: Bikini Swimsuit Introduced On this day in 1946, French designer Louis Reard unveils a daring two-piece swimsuit at a popular swimming pool in Paris.  Reard’s bikini was more revealing than the basic two-piece suits, consisting of a bra top and two inverted triangles connected by string, and was considered too scandalous in America until the early 1960’s. Reard named his new design “bikini” after Bikini Atoll, a cluster of islands that served as a testing site over which 23 nuclear devices were detonated from 1946-1958.  Watch a feature on the American and Soviet race to build the “World’s Biggest Bomb”. Photo:  Library of Congress
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July 5, 1946: Bikini Swimsuit Introduced

On this day in 1946, French designer Louis Reard unveils a daring two-piece swimsuit at a popular swimming pool in Paris.  Reard’s bikini was more revealing than the basic two-piece suits, consisting of a bra top and two inverted triangles connected by string, and was considered too scandalous in America until the early 1960’s.

Reard named his new design “bikini” after Bikini Atoll, a cluster of islands that served as a testing site over which 23 nuclear devices were detonated from 1946-1958.  Watch a feature on the American and Soviet race to build the “World’s Biggest Bomb”.


Photo:  Library of Congress

Source: to.pbs.org

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