One of the most infamous World War II inventions is the

One of the most infamous World War II inventions is the atomic bomb. In August 1945, the United States launched its first (and so far, only) nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing an estimated 110,000 to 210,000 people.
While the bomb stands out for its devastating impact, there were many other nonlethal innovations during the war in the fields of medicine and technology that have drastically reshaped the world.
Some of these innovations were based on research or designs predating the war that weren’t able to take off until the U.S. or British governments funded these projects to help the Allied forces. Here are six innovations that came out of that development surge.
1. Flu Vaccines

A guinea pig being inoculated to determine type of pneumonia and aid in diagnosis of other infectious diseases on the U.S.S. Solace, Navy Hospital Ship, c. 1942. 
Ralph Morse/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images
The influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919 had a major effect on World War I, and it motivated the U.S. military to develop the first flu vaccine. Scientists began to isolate flu viruses in the 1930s, and in the 1940s, the U.S. Army helped sponsor the development of a vaccine against them.
The U.S. approved the first flu vaccine for military use in 1945 and for civilian use in 1946. One of the lead researchers on the project was Jonas Salk, the U.S. scientist who would later develop the polio vaccine.
Pandemics: Full Coverage
2. Penicillin

Injured British Pvt. F. Harris waits for a medic to inject penicillin in preparation for an operation on a hospital train on its way to a station in England. Harris was wounded during an attack on a position in Normandy.
Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Before the widespread use of antibiotics like penicillin in the United States, even small cuts and scrapes could lead to deadly infections. The Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, but it wasn’t until World War II that the United States began to mass-produce it as a medical treatment.
Manufacturing penicillin for soldiers was a major priority for the U.S. War Department, which touted the effort as “a race against death” in one poster. Military surgeons were amazed by how the drug reduced pain, increased the chance of survival and made it easier for nurses and doctors to care for soldiers on the battlefield.
The United States considered the drug so critical to the war effort that, to prepare for the D-Day landings, the country produced 2.3 million doses of penicillin for the Allied troops. After the war, civilians gained access to this life-saving drug, too.