The chain reaction was conceived to spite Rutherford.

1933 · 1938 · apart: 5 years

In 1933 he called the idea of energy from atoms 'moonshine'; Leo Szilard read this in the paper and, by his own account, came up with the nuclear chain reaction that day while crossing a London street.

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The event

• Discovery of nuclear fission1938 · Berlin. In December 1938 Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann found that uranium nuclei split when bombarded with neutrons; Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch explained the process. The discovery led to both nuclear power and the atomic bomb.

20th century

More amazing facts

• 1932 The Emu War was the idea of World War I veterans.
• 1932 LEGO means 'play well' in Danish.
• 1932 The commander of the Emu War admired the enemy.
• 1932 · 1969 Claims that the Great Wall is visible from the Moon were printed in 1932, 37 years before anyone got there.
• 1933 · 1983 Earth's lowest temperature was measured at a Soviet Antarctic station: −89.2 °C at Vostok on 21 July 1983.
• 1934 Until 1934 people in Turkey were not required to have surnames.

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