50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: Nuclear Gamble, Aeroplane Assertion and Early Forensics

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APRIL 1956
URANIUM SPREAD--"The U.S. will release 88,000 pounds of fissionable uranium 235 for research and development and for fueling nuclear power reactors, President Eisenhower announced last month. Half of the uranium will be sold or leased to approved groups in the U.S.; the rest will be available to foreign nations. The U.S.S.R. and its satellites are excluded from the plan; so are Britain and Canada, which already make nuclear fuel. The 88,000 pounds of U-235 represent enough fuel to generate four million kilowatts of electric power, or the combined explosive charge of some 3,000 atomic bombs."

APRIL 1906
WRIGHT AEROPLANE--"According to the statement sent to the Aero Club of America recently by Messrs. Orville and Wilbur Wright (which statement is, by the way, the first authoritative one made by the brothers in their own country), they have already solved the problem of the century, mechanical flight, with their motor-driven, man-carrying aeroplane. During the past three years in which they have been experimenting with it, they have made 150 flights averaging a mile each, but not until the machine had been changed and improved many times. The final flight of 24 1/5 miles on October 5 last was longer than the 105 flights of 1904 taken together."

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