Date in year · 1964 · The 1960s

October 16, 1964

On October 16, 1964, china detonates its first nuclear weapon. The year's #1 song was "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles. Davis Love III, Niall Ferguson, John Carney would arrive in the same year.

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1964

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Featured · October 16, 1964

China detonates its first nuclear weapon.

Project 596 was the first nuclear weapons test conducted by the People's Republic of China, detonated on 16 October 1964, at the Lop Nur test site. It was an implosion fission device containing about 15 kg weapons-grade uranium (U-235) from Lanzhou enrichment plant.

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Around 1964

The year in brief

Ruth, Michael. "Andy Serkis | Biography | Research Starters | EBSCO Research". EBSCO. Retrieved May 8, 2026.

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What happened

On October 16, 1964

1964 China detonates its first nuclear weapon.

First Chinese nuclear test, 1964

Project 596 was the first nuclear weapons test conducted by the People's Republic of China, detonated on 16 October 1964, at the Lop Nur test site. It was an implosion fission device containing about 15 kg weapons-grade uranium (U-235) from Lanzhou enrichment plant.
1964 Leonid Brezhnev becomes leader of the Soviet Communist Party, while Alexei Kosygin becomes the head of government.

Leader of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death in 1982. He also held office as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1960 to 1964 and later from 1977 to 1982. His tenure as General Secretary and leader of the Soviet Union was second only to Joseph Stalin's in duration.