1954 — In the United States and Europe, there is increasing concern about nuclear fallout, especially when radioactive strontium-90 is detected in food. Elsewhere that year:

• Plant fossils discovered in the Great Lakes are determined to be about 2 billion years old;
• The United States and Canada announce construction of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line of radar stations across northern America. It begins operation in 1957;
• Evan Hunter, writer, publishes The Blackboard Jungle, based on his teaching experience at a New York vocational school;
• RCA develops a flashlight-sized atomic battery;
• The Temple of Mithras, a Roman god in the 3rd century B.C., is uncovered during rebuilding in London.