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Creating a Mercury capsule

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Liberty Bell 7

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Abstract

On Sunday, 16 July 1939, noted scientist Albert Einstein famously sent a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to explore nuclear weaponry and, as a result, established the United States on the road to the creation of the first atomic weapons ever used to devastating effect in a military conflict.

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References

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Burgess, C. (2014). Creating a Mercury capsule. In: Liberty Bell 7. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04391-3_1

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