Trinity test, world’s first atomic bomb – July 16, 1945


Another good reason to follow the National Archives on Twitter, Tumblr and other media:  Great updates.

Like this one on the explosive arrival of the Atomic Age:

 Atomic Age Begins

"Trinity" atomic device being positioned at White Sands, New Mexico - National Archives

Trinity atomic device “Jumbo” being positioned at White Sands, New Mexico – National Archives

Atomic Age Begins

On July 16, 1945 the United States tested a nuclear device, code named “Trinity”, for the first time in White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico.

Above: [“Jumbo” atomic device being positioned for “Trinity” test at Alamogordo, New Mexico.], 1945

Below: [“Trinity” explosion], 07/16/1945

Source: research.archives.gov

Trinity was conducted in secret as party of the Manhattan Project.  Though thousands of people were involved in the creation of the weapon, only a relative handful knew the scope of the project and the ultimate goal.  Probably fewer than 200 people were actually involved in the test knowing what it was. Manhattan Project created two secret cities, at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Los Alamos, New Mexico. Workers and their families probably did not know when the event occurred.

It’s astonishing to think anyone could hide the explosion today. Near the end of World War II, after Germany had surrendered to end the war in Europe, no one really knew just what at atomic explosion would look or sound like. The test occurred near dawn in a very desolate part of New Mexico’s southern desert, a then sparsely populated state. A few thousand may have seen the flash; a few hundred may have heard or felt the explosion. No one in government confirmed any report of a weapon.

President Harry Truman got news of the successful test while working out the end of the War in the Pacific as well as Europe mop-up operations, at the Potsdam Conference with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. The decision to use the weapon came within a few days, and Hiroshima was attacked with an atomic weapon on August 6, followed by an attack on Nagasaki on August 9. Japan’s unconditional surrender following those attacks stopped plans for an invasion of Japan’s main islands which most likely would have caused millions of military casualties and millions of civilian casualties.

Related articles
English: Rare color photograph of the first nu...

Rare color photograph of the first nuclear test at Trinity site, July 16, 1945. Blurriness is in the original photograph (done when color photography was still fairly new). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is based on an earlier post, and is mostly an encore post.

This is based on an earlier post, and is mostly an encore post.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 17th, 2016 at 2:23 am and is filed under 1941-1945, Atomic Bomb, Geography - Physical, History, Nuclear weapons, Physics, World War II. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to Trinity test, world’s first atomic bomb – July 16, 1945

  1. The Coastal Crone says:
    July 18, 2016 at 2:22 pm

    Well, I did not know the National Archives was on Twitter but I should not be surprised. I don’t do Twitter but I do follow you blog and get great information like this!

    Like

  2. Jim Rose says:
    July 17, 2016 at 5:39 am

    Reblogged this on Utopia – you are standing in it!.

    Like

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