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Soviet soldier taking a photograph of another soldier in Red Square, Moscow, 1959

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Indian Nuclear History

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Mao, Zedong

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Kurchatov, Igor V.

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Cohen, Avner

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Beria, Lavrenty P.

1899 - 1953

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Bhabha, Homi Jehangir

1909 - 1966

Jawaharlal Nehru, 1949

Nehru, Jawaharlal

1889 - 1964

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Documents

June 20, 1959	Letter from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Central Committee to the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee on the Temporary Halt in Nuclear Assistance The Soviet Central Committee informs their Chinese counterparts that, in light of the arms reduction talks taking place in Geneva, Soviet nuclear assistance must cease. The Chinese had requested a sample atomic bomb and technical data, but the Soviet feared that doing so would imperil the efforts of the socialist countries in Geneva.
June 21, 1958	Address by Mao Zedong to the Enlarged Meeting of the Central Military Commission (Excerpt) Mao addresses the Central Military Commission to report on China's steel production, which he believes will surpass the Soviet Union's capability in seven years and the United States' in ten. He also makes it known that China will build "atom bombs, hydrogen bombs and inter-continental missiles," and believes this can be done in as few as ten years.
April 25, 1956	Talk by Mao Zedong at an Enlarged Meeting of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Politburo (Excerpts) Mao speaks to the Central Committee Politburo about the need to develop an atomic bomb to avoid being "bullied," but stresses that this can only happen if economic development increases simultaneously.
August 26, 1977	Cable, South African Department of Foreign Affairs, 'South Africa: Nuclear Bomb Charges' South African department of Foreign Affairs cable to its embassies addressing the Soviet charge that South Africa is on the precipice of developing a nuclear bomb. The message states that South Africa has no intentions of developing a weapon, that the Kalahari facility is not being used to test explosives, and that “there will not be any nuclear explosive testing of any kind in South Africa.” Attached is a copy of the Prime Ministers’ 24 August 1977 speech in Cape Town.
June 17, 1993	Interview with André Finkelstein by Avner Cohen Transcript of Avner Cohen's 1993 interview with André Finkelstein. Finkelstein, deputy director of the IAEA and a ranking official within the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), discusses Franco-Israeli nuclear technology exchange and collaboration in this 1993 interview.
June 15, 1993	Interview with Bertrand Goldschmidt by Avner Cohen Transcript of Avner Cohen's 1993 interview with Dr. Bertrand Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt was a leading French nuclear scientist who helped develop the PUREX plutonium extraction technique. In this interview, Goldschmidt explains the background of the French role in constructing the Dimona nuclear facility.
February 23, 1979	Report, Embassy of Hungary in North Korea to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry The Hungarian Ambassador in North Korea reports on the construction of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant in South Korea, highlighting that South Korea's projected power output would eventually surpass North Korea's by three-fold. As a result, North Korea was anxious to build its own nuclear power plant and perhaps even an atomic bomb.
October 16, 1963	Report on a Conversation between the Soviet Ambassador in North Korea Vasily Moskovsky and Soviet Specialists in North Korea Vasily Moskovsky relays that, according to one Korean engineer, North Korea can produce an atomic bomb.
March 11, 1953	Memorandum of Discussion at the 136th Meeting of the National Security Council The US National Security Council discusses the effect that Stalin’s death had on Soviet policy and on Communist Parties outside of the USSR, as well as the opportunity it provided the US to use Stalin’s death in a psychological strategy to influence the Soviets. The Council also discusses the possibility of negotiations for a settlement with the Soviets in Korea.
October 2, 1944	Letter from Boris Merkulov (USSR People’s Commissar for State Security) to Lavrenty Beria (USSR People’s Commissar for Internal Affairs) Letter from Merkulov to Beria regarding the KGB’s efforts to obtain information about the creation of the atomic bomb and specifically about the related problems with uranium