Electric cars, which have come and gone at least twice since the dawn of the automobile era, are back. The first mass-market EVs are here and more are rolling silently over the horizon. The Obama administration loves cars with cords and wants 1 million on the road by 2015.

That’s an ambitious, but not impossible, goal. Most major automakers promise to have an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid in showrooms by then. Their commitment seems solid, and some are making big promises. General Motors just announced its second plug-in hybrid, for example, and Nissan says its factory in Tennessee will...

1962:NS Savannah, the world’s first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, completes its maiden voyage.

In a world terrified by the prospect of nuclear war, the Savannah was meant to demonstrate the peaceful use and positive potential of nuclear power. President Eisenhower conceived the idea as part of his “Atoms for Peace” program in 1955, a time when the United States and Soviet Union were routinely testing increasingly powerful nuclear weapons.

Worldwide, just four nuclear-powered merchant ships were eventually built.

The Savannah, named for the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean in...