[gusfoo]

> The cavity magnetron, one of the first practical microwave transmitters, was an invention of such import that it was the UK's key contribution to a technical partnership that lead to the UK's access to US nuclear weapons research.

No, that's not correct at all. The Tube Alloys project[0] was the key, codified in the Quebec Agreement[1], giving the USA access to UK nuclear weapons research.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_Alloys [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Agreement

It is an item of some irritation to me that many people think the USA was the nation which started nuclear weapons development first. "In July 1940, Britain had offered to give the United States access to its research, and the Tizard Mission's John Cockcroft briefed American scientists on British developments. He discovered that the American project was smaller than the British, and not as advanced."

[jcrawfordor]

I'm referring to the Tizard mission exactly, in which Cockcroft brought a magnetron to the US for show and tell. Nuclear weapons were less of an emphasis than radar (and jet engines, also a UK-led development) at that point in time.

[aidenn0]

Wasn't the hardened valves for use in fuses also an important part of the Tizard mission?