Tag: 1952

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November 1, 1952 — Einsteinium is first created

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Einsteinium is a completely artifical element (atomic number 99) with a very short half-life (a about 1 and a third years). It was first discovered in the fallout from the detonation of the world’s first hydrogen bomb, code Ivy Mike, detonated at Enewetak Atoll on November 1, 1952.

As a trans-uranic element, it is extremely radioactive. It has no known applications other using it to develop other extremely radioactive trans-uranic elements with even higher atomic numbers – so far, it has been employed successfully in the creation of mendelevium (atomic number 101) and unsuccessfully in the attempted creation of ununennium (atomic number 119).

Quartz vial (9 mm diameter) containing ~300 micrograms of solid 253Es. The illumination produced is a result of the intense radiation from 253Es.
By Haire, R. G., US Department of Energy.
Touched up by Materialscientist at en.wikipedia. – [1], Haire, Richard G. (2006). “Einsteinium”. In Morss; Edelstein, Norman M.; Fuger, Jean. The Chemistry of the Actinide and Transactinide Elements (3rd ed.). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer Science+Business Media. ISBN 1-4020-3555-1. p. 1580
Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by User:Urutseg using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

The Fez — The Dead Milkmen

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November 1, 1952 — The first full test of a Hydrogen bomb is made

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The bomb was code-named “Ivy Mike”. It was the first test of the Teller-Ulam bomb design, which produced yield estimated in the range of 10.4–12 Megatons (450 times as powerful as the Nagasaki bomb) when it was detonated on Elugelab Island in the Enwetak Atoll, in the Ralik chain of the Marshall Islands.

It was the first successful Hydrogen Bomb test by either side, the first fusion bomb, and the acquisition of this technology by the United States marked an escalation in the arms race of the Cold War – a little over nine months later, the Soviet Union would detonate a fusion bomb of its own.

Ivy Mike - mushroom cloud.jpg
By United States Department of Energy – This image is available from the National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office Photo Library under number IVY-52-05.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required., Public Domain, Link

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We Didn’t Start the Fire — Billy Joel

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September 23, 1952 – Rocky Marciano becomes world Heavyweight Champion

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Rocky Marciano had been a professional boxer for only a little over four years when he defeated Jersey Joe Walcott in Philadelphia. The 29 year old boxer defeated Walcott in a round 13 knockout, after a slow start that saw him behind on points for most of the bout.

Marciano would hold the World Heavyweight Champion title for three and a half years, successfully defending it six times before he retired from professional boxing on April 27, 1956. (Floyd Patterson would be the next holder of the title.)

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July 1, 1952 — “The Liberace Show” is first broadcast

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Liberace was one of the first of a new breed of entertainer in post war America. He saw that television would displace radio as the dominant medium, and that his own act, with its intensely visual aspects, would be well-suited to it. But his initial efforts to find success on the box did less well than he had hoped – guest spots on variety shows didn’t seem to help that much.

On July 1, 1952, he screened a fifteen minute first episode of “The Liberace Show”, which soon went on to become a syndicated series – and to net Liberace a small fortune (he got as much as 80% of the residuals in some markets). Soon, Władziu Valentino Liberace was a household name – or at least, his surname was, and he became one of the best known entertainers of his era, a legend in his own time.

Liberace.jpg
By photo by Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, Link

As mentioned in:

We Didn’t Start The Fire — Billy Joel

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March 12, 1952 — Eisenhower announces his candidacy for President of the USA

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Eisenhower didn’t originally want to run for President. He’d been repeatedly urged to by Harry Truman over the previous years, but Harry wanted Ike to be a Democrat, and Ike’s family were dyed-in-the-wool Republicans. At one point, he retorted to Truman that if he was going to run, it would be as a Republican, not a Democrat.

When word of that got out, Henry Cabot Lodge entered Eisenhower’s name on the ballot for the New Hampshire Primary without Ike’s knowledge. Garnering considerable popular support and a number of endorsements in newspaper editorials, Ike did no campaigning, saying only that if he won, he would contest the election. Eisenhower easily emerged victorious, winning 50% of the votes on March 11, 1952. The next day, he announced that he would indeed run, and come November, he was elected the 34th President of the United States. Richard Nixon was his Vice President.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, official photo portrait, May 29, 1959.jpg
By White House – Eisenhower Presidential Library, Public Domain, Link

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Dr Jeep — Sisters of Mercy