The study of nuclear energy began in the nineteenth century when Marie and Pierre Curie discovered the radioactive elements radium and polonium. Before this only uranium and thorium were the only radioactive elements that were known. Radium and polonium were hundreds of times more radioactive than uranium. The Curies won the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics for these discoveries. Seven years later Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for refining radium. She was the first person to win the Nobel Prize twice.

Soon after the Curies made their discoveries, scientists discovered the radioactive element actinium. By 1912, thirty radioactive elements had been discovered.

In 1905, Albert Einstein developed a theory about the relationship of mass and energy. The formula, E=mc2 is probably the most famous outcome from Einstein's theory of relativity. The formula states that Energy (E) equals mass (m) times the speed of light squared. In essence, it means mass is just one form of energy. Since the speed of light is a

n enormous number, 186,000 miles per second, and in the equation it is squared, a small amount of mass can be converted to a phenomenal amount of energy. Nuclear reactors are based around this theory because small amounts of mass can produce large amounts of energy.

These matters and more caused the United States and the Soviet Union to enter a nuclear arms race which lasted until the 1980's when President Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), dubbed Star Wars by the press, a satellite-based defense system that would destroy incoming missiles and warheads in space. In, 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union. He made a plan for the United States and the Soviet Union to cut down their nuclear arms. It also called for the end of the space strike weapons (Star Wars). This among other things ended the Nuclear Arms Race.

In July 1946, the Atomic Energy Act was passed, establishing the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), which replaced the Manhattan Project on December 31, 1946. The act placed control of atomic energy in civilian hands. The act stated that atomic energy should be directed "toward improving public welfare, increasing the standard of living, strengthening free competition among private companies ... and cementing world peace." However, the act prohibited private companies or individuals from owning nuclear material and patenting inventions related to atomic energy. The act also restricted information on using nuclear materials to produce energy as well as on designing, making, and using atomic weapons.

On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein sent a letter to President Roosevelt informing him of German atomic research and the potential threat of a bomb. He also tried to encourage Roosevelt to take up American atomic research. In October, 1939, Roosevelt approved uranium research in the United States. This, among many other decisions, resulted in the Manhattan Project. Within two years, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and the United States entered World War II.

In September 1942 the Manhattan Project was formed to covertly build the atom bomb before the Germans. The Army appointed General Leslie Groves, the engineer responsible for building the Pentagon, to head the efforts. At first, the research took place at several university laboratories. Soon after Enrico Fermi achieved a sustai

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1597
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)