Fun fact: The same group that figured out how to make the atom bomb also paved the way for the invention of the modern smoke detector.
It's true. While the physicists of the highly-secretive Manhattan Project were trying to figure out what Plutonium was all about, they created an element new to science called Americium-241 by bombarding the Plutonium with neutrons. They kept it secret for years, but eventually it found its way into our homes.