Nuclear energy
Who
Leó Szilárd, a Hungarian-Jewish physicist, who first conceived the nuclear chain reaction; the theoretical basis (E=mc²) came from Albert Einstein, also Jewish.
When
1933–1942
Where
London, England / Chicago, USA
The idea of a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction — the basis of both nuclear power and the atomic bomb — was conceived and patented by the physicist Leó Szilárd, a Jewish refugee from Hungary. He and Enrico Fermi built the first controlled reactor in Chicago in 1942, and Einstein's mass-energy relation underpinned the whole field.
Sources
Part of “The Gifts of the Jews” — verified Jewish contributions to the world, with sources.