--- description: Russians who covet the atomic bomb seemed to be able to find a whole molecule of comfort in not having it. Last week the illustrated weekly Ogonek ("Glimmer") reported (in all seriousness):... title: ATOMIC AGE: Fission Fever image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) # ATOMIC AGE: Fission Fever by [TIME](/author/time/) Jun 17, 1946 4:00 AM CUT by [TIME](/author/time/) Jun 17, 1946 4:00 AM CUT Russians who covet the atomic bomb seemed to be able to find a whole molecule of comfort in not having it. Last week the illustrated weekly Ogonek (“Glimmer”) reported (in all seriousness): “In America psychiatrists are worried about a new disease called Atom Madness. Every day lunatic asylums are receiving several persons who complain that they are beginning to split. Others say that they have discovered a new bomb which will destroy the earth and all the other planets.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6783951/atomic-age-fission-fever/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6783951/atomic-age-fission-fever/"},"headline":"ATOMIC AGE: Fission Fever","datePublished":"1946-06-17T04:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T16:33:04.161Z","description":"Russians who covet the atomic bomb seemed to be able to find a whole molecule of comfort in not having it. Last week the illustrated weekly Ogonek (\"Glimmer\") reported (in all seriousness):...","url":"https://time.com/archive/6783951/atomic-age-fission-fever/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/author/time/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6783951/atomic-age-fission-fever/","name":"ATOMIC AGE: Fission Fever"}}]}] ```