FRONTS AND THEMES
World Events and Discoveries
Dated events in this theatre or theme.
1938-01-01 — Creation of SNCF — Unification of France's Main Railways1938-03-04 — Dammam No. 7 Strikes Oil in Commercial Quantities1938-03-18 — Mexico Nationalises the Oil Industry1938-04-01 — Nestlé Launches Nescafé1938-04-06 — Discovery of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)1938-05-23 — Technical Design of the Uglich and Rybinsk Hydroelectric Complexes Approved1938-05-26 — Foundation Stone Laid for Volkswagen's Main Plant1938-07-03 — Mallard Sets the World Steam Locomotive Speed Record1938-10-22 — Chester Carlson Produces the First Xerographic Image1938-10-30 — Orson Welles's 'The War of the Worlds' Radio Broadcast1939-01-01 — Hewlett-Packard Founded1939-04-30 — RCA Demonstrates Electronic Television to the Public at the New York World's Fair1939-05-12 — First Funding for the Harvard Mark I1939-06-28 — First Regular Transatlantic Passenger Flight by Pan American1939-08-27 — First Flight of the Jet-Powered Heinkel He 1781939-09-01 — First Full-Scale Polyethylene Plant Begins Operation1939-09-14 — First Flight of the Sikorsky VS-300 Helicopter1939-12-12 — World's First Industrial Nylon Plant Begins Operation1940-02-21 — High-Power Cavity Magnetron Successfully Tested in Birmingham1940-02-23 — Russell Ohl Observes the p–n Junction in Silicon1940-05-15 — Nylon Stockings Go on Mass Sale1940-08-27 — First Flight of the Caproni Campini N.1 Experimental Jet Aircraft1940-08-29 — Marl Plant Produces Its First Bales of Buna Synthetic Rubber1940-09-11 — Bell Labs Publicly Demonstrates Remote Computing over Telephone Lines1940-09-23 — American Bantam Delivers the First Prototype of the Future Jeep1941-01-14 — Construction Begins on Kaiser's First Richmond Shipyard1941-04-09 — Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) Established1941-04-24 — Detroit Tank Arsenal Produces Its First Production Tank1941-05-12 — Programmable Z3 Computer Operates1941-05-15 — First Flight of Britain's Gloster E.28/39 Jet Aircraft1941-07-11 — State Defense Committee Launches Large-Scale Evacuation of Soviet Industry Eastward1941-07-15 — Willys-Overland Receives Contract for Mass Production of the Military Jeep1941-09-27 — First Liberty Ship — SS Patrick Henry — Launched1941-10-04 — First Grand Coulee Generator Begins Operation1942-01-14 — First Flight of the Sikorsky XR-4 — Prototype of the First Production Helicopter1942-05-25 — First Commercial Fluid Catalytic Cracking Reactor Starts Up1942-07-18 — Messerschmitt Me 262 Makes Its First Flight on Jet Power Alone1942-08-13 — Manhattan Engineer District Formally Established1942-10-03 — First Successful Full-Scale Test of the V-2 Rocket1942-11-12 — Liberty Ship SS Robert E. Peary Sets a Construction-Speed Record1942-11-20 — Alaska Highway Officially Opened1942-12-02 — First Controlled Self-Sustaining Nuclear Chain Reaction1943-01-09 — First Flight of the Lockheed Constellation1943-02-18 — Construction Begins on the First Y-12 Production Building at Oak Ridge1943-03-05 — First Flight of the Gloster Meteor1943-03-22 — Major Construction Begins at the Hanford Industrial Complex1943-04-09 — Contract Signed to Build ENIAC1943-06-29 — First Flight of the First Production B-29 Built at Wichita1943-08-14 — Big Inch Oil Pipeline Completed1943-09-29 — Polymer Corporation Begins Industrial Production of Synthetic Rubber1943-10-19 — Discovery of the Antibiotic Streptomycin1943-11-03 — Willow Run Completes Its 1,000th B-24 Bomber1943-11-04 — X-10 Graphite Reactor Begins Operation at Oak Ridge1944-02-05 — Colossus Mk I Begins Operation at Bletchley Park1944-03-02 — Little Big Inch Products Pipeline Completed1944-04-14 — Hydro-Québec Created1944-07-25 — First Confirmed Air Combat by the Jet-Powered Me 2621944-08-07 — Harvard Mark I Presented to Harvard University1944-09-01 — Volvo Unveils the PV4441944-09-09 — Willow Run Produces Its 6,000th B-241944-09-22 — First PLUTO Pipeline to Cherbourg Begins Delivering Fuel1944-09-26 — Hanford B Reactor Reaches Criticality1945-01-16 — Renault Nationalised1945-01-20 — First K-25 Production Cell Becomes Operational1945-02-05 — Hanford Sends Its First Shipment of Plutonium to Los Alamos1945-06-22 — First Flight of the Vickers Viking Passenger Aircraft1945-06-28 — Willow Run Produces Its Final B-241945-09-05 — ZEEP Reactor Reaches Criticality for the First Time1945-09-20 — Rolls-Royce Trent Makes Its First Flight as an Early Turboprop Engine1945-09-25 — First Flight of the de Havilland Dove1945-10-24 — UN Charter Enters into Force1945-11-16 — UNESCO Constitution Adopted1945-12-27 — Series Production of Volkswagen Resumes at Wolfsburg1946-02-14 — ENIAC Publicly Unveiled1946-03-08 — Bell 47 Receives the First Civil Helicopter Certification1946-04-08 — Électricité de France (EDF) Created1946-04-23 — Piaggio Registers the Vespa Industrial Model1946-05-07 — Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo — the Future Sony — Founded1946-06-17 — First Commercial Mobile Telephone Service Launched1946-08-01 — Atomic Energy Act of 1946 Signed1946-08-02 — First Official Shipment of Reactor-Produced Radioisotopes Sent for Civilian Use1946-09-01 — Vickers Viking Enters Regular Service with British European Airways1946-09-20 — First Cannes Film Festival Opens1946-10-03 — Renault 4CV Publicly Unveiled at the Reopened Paris Motor Show1946-11-04 — UNESCO Constitution Enters into Force