shot down by P-38 fighters over Bougainville. July 20, 1944 – Adolf Hitler, German fascist dictator is attacked with a bomb by anti-Nazi Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and others of the German resistance in the 20th July plot. Hitler survives with minor wounds and the suspects are either arrested or executed. January 30, 1948 – Mahatma Gandhi, Indian activist and leader of the Indian independence movement is assassinated by Nathuram Godse using a pistol. Science and technology Technology The Atanasoff-Berry computer is now considered one of the first electronic digital computing device built by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State University during 1937–1942. Construction in early 1941 of the Heath Robinson Bombe & the Colossus computer, which was used by British codebreakers at Bletchley Park and satellite stations nearby to read Enigma encrypted German messages during World War II. This was operational until 1946 when it was destroyed under orders from Winston Churchill. This is now widely regarded as the first operational computer which in a model rebuild still today has a remarkable computing speed. The Z3 as world's first working programmable, fully automatic computing machine was built. The first test of technology for an atomic weapon (Trinity test) as part of the Manhattan Project. The sound barrier was broken in October, 1947. The transistor was invented in December, 1947 at Bell Labs. The development of radar. The development of ballistic missiles. The development of jet aircraft. The Jeep. The development of commercial television. The Slinky. The microwave oven. The invention of Velcro. The invention of Tupperware. The invention of the Frisbee. The invention of hydraulic fracturing. Science Physics: the development of quantum theory and nuclear physics. Mathematics: the development of game theory and cryptography. In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl's raft Kon-Tiki crossed the Pacific Ocean from Peru to Tahiti proving the practical possibility that people from South America could have settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times, rather than South-East Asia as it was previously believed. Willard Libby developed radiocarbon dating—a process that revolutionized archaeology. The development of the modern evolutionary synthesis. Popular culture Film Oscar winners: Rebecca (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Casablanca (1943), Going My Way (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), Hamlet (1948), All the King's Men (1949). Some of Hollywood's most notable blockbuster films of the 1940s include: The Maltese Falcon