The MAUD Committee was a British scientific working group formed during the Second World War to determine if an atomic bomb was feasible. The name came from a reference by Danish physicist Niels Bohr to his housekeeper, Maud Ray. The committee was founded in response to the Frisch–Peierls memorandum, which argued that a small sphere of pure uranium-235 could have the explosive power of thousands of tons of TNT. Its chairman was George Thomson and it met at Burlington House (pictured). Uranium enrichment, fissile materials, and the design of nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons were examined. The research culminated in two reports, known collectively as the MAUD Report. In response, the British created a nuclear weapons project. The report was made available to the United States, where it energised the American effort, which eventually became the Manhattan Project; it was also handed to the Soviet Union by its atomic spies, helping start the Soviet atomic bomb project.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAUD_Committee

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1815:

The East Indiaman Arniston was wrecked during a storm at Waenhuiskrans, near Cape Agulhas in South Africa, with the loss of 372 lives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arniston_%28East_Indiaman%29

1914:

RMS Aquitania, the last surviving four-funnel ocean liner, departed from Liverpool on her maiden voyage to New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Aquitania

1998:

An earthquake registering 6.5 Mw struck northern Afghanistan, killing at least 4,000 people, destroying more than 30 villages, and leaving 45,000 people homeless in Takhar and Badakhshan Provinces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1998_Afghanistan_earthquake

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

BANANA: (informal, humorous, derogatory, often attributively) One who objects to the building of any structure in their neighbourhood, especially in public policy debate. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/BANANA

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I speak of that justice which is based solely upon human conscience, the justice which you will rediscover deep in the conscience of every man, even in the conscience of the child, and which translates itself into simple equality. This justice, which is so universal but which nevertheless, owing to the encroachments of force and to the influence of religion, has never as yet prevailed in the world of politics, of law, or of economics, should serve as a basis for the new world. Without it there is no liberty, no republic, no prosperity, no peace! It should therefore preside at all our resolutions in order that we may effectively cooperate in establishing peace.   --Mikhail Bakunin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakunin