ernestlawrence

[ernestlawrence]

ERASE the idea that America saved lives by dropping two atomic bombs on Japan from your minds. ERASE the idea that it was anything more than a political move to scare Russia and also to satiate US curiosity as to the true ability of nuclear weapons. Nagasaki and Hiroshima were not military bases. They were heavily populated civilian cities chosen precisely bc the U.S. wanted to see how many people an atomic bomb could kill in one go. Japan was on the verge of surrendering, the U.S. literally wanted to test out their nuclear weapons on people that they deemed disposable. That is it. If those bombs were dropped by any nation other than the US veryone involved would have been tried as war criminals.

#anti atomic bomb

[ernestlawrence]

#photo #j robert oppenheimer

[ernestlawrence]

Trinity Gadget July 16, 2015 Today is the 70th anniversary of the first atomic bomb test. “The first detonation of an atomic bomb (code name: Trinity) took place at 5:29 a.m. on July 16, 1945, on the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, located about 230 miles south of the Manhattan Project’s headquarters in Los Alamos, New Mexico. When the implosion-design plutonium device (known as the “Gadget”) exploded, it filled the sky with a terrifying radioactive cloud, scorched the earth below and released the explosive energy of about 19 kilotons of TNT.“

#gadget #photos #atomic bomb #trinity #los alamos

[ernestlawrence]

⚛ New Bethel Baptist Church / ORNL

The New Bethel Baptist Church is the only remaining building of the Scarboro community before the surrounding land was bought by the US government. In 1942, the area of Bethel Valley was acquired for around $45 an acre, leaving its former residents to vacate. Most buildings were destroyed to make room for the X-10 site, but the church remained as a useful meeting place to planners close by. 

Inside the building today, there are many photos and artifacts dating back to prior times. The cabinets and photos memorialize those who lost their homes as a sacrifice to victory. Behind the church is a small graveyard, many of the gravestones still intact. Unfortunately, taking pictures of the outside of structures on-site at this time is strongly discouraged, so there are none shown here.

Officially, the church opened in 1851 and closed in 1942. The church’s interior is still accessible and on display.

#manhattan project #oak ridge #photos

[ernestlawrence]

@bwitiye it is done

#hey nik remember this? remember this? #im forcing you to remember

[ernestlawrence]

Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands - July 25, 1946

#bikini atoll testing #1946 #marshall islands #operation crossroads #nuclear weapons testing

[ernestlawrence]

Atomic flash during testing at Bikin, 1946

#bikini atoll testing #1946 #nuclear weapons testing #post trinity

[ernestlawrence]

Where we’ve dropped our 2,053 nukes.

Since 1945’s Trinity test in New Mexico, 2053 nuclear bombs have exploded on Earth.

#post trinity #nuclear weapons #nuclear weapons testing #map #maps

[ernestlawrence]

The Szilard Petition and the Atom Bomb

History often paints scientists as Dr. Frankenstein’s in a mad dash to the finish line, damn the consequences.  Occasionally, however, a scientist will stand up and ask the world to slow down and examine what is about to be unleashed on the world.  Perhaps the most momentous (and ignored) of these attempts is the Szilard Petition, named after Leo Szilard, the Hungarian-American physicist who first conceived (and even patented) the nuclear chain reaction.  After working for a decade on nuclear reactions, Szilard realized the import of what was about to happen.  America was racing to create the first atomic weapon before either the Japanese or Nazis could bring one to the battle field.  By the spring of 1945, the Americans were on the verge of success and Germany was defeated.  Szilard began circulating his petition, signed by 70 project scientists, asking the United States Government not to use the bomb in combat but rather to demonstrate its power first and let that demonstration alone serve as all future deterrence.  On July 16, 1945, the US detonated its first test code named Trinity, and on July 17, 1945, Szilard took his petition to Secretary of State James Byrnes, who ignored him and did not agree with the aims of the petition.  Szilard was under internal military pressure that the mere presence of the petition indicated to the enemy that a weapon was imminent and therefore publishing the letter was a security threat.  July 19, Szilard bowed to these pressures and allowed the petition to travel through ‘official channels’ which only led to a delay in the letters receipt by Henry Stimson.  In the end the Szilard Petition did not stop the bombs, which were dropped weeks later on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing a calamitous loss of life and destruction of historical sites and property.  Many scientists lost their jobs and careers for signing the Szilard Petition, and Szilard himself left the field and lived in guilt until his death in 1964.  It should be noted of course that almost 6 years to the day before, Szilard started the insane race for the first nuclear weapon with the Einstein-Szilard letter, but that is another story.  He was a man of deep accomplishment and deep contradiction, but a man of principle.  

#leo szilard #szilard petition #trinity test #nuclear bomb #manhattan project #james byrnes #henry stimson #stop painting szilard like this #he did nothing wrong #my son

[ernestlawrence]

Jumbo, a 200-ton steel canister designed to recover plutonium used in Trinity test in the event the explosives were unable to trigger a chain reaction. In the end, it wasn’t used, but was placed near ground zero to help gauge the effects of the blast. It survived intact. 1945.

via reddit

#jumbo #cant wait until i blog about lbj inevitably and his dick has to share a tag with it #trinity #1945 #trinity test #july 1945

[ernestlawrence]

Sgt. Herbert Lehr assembles the Plutonium core of the first atomic bomb test in history at the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico. July 12, 1945

#WHY IS HE STANDING LIKE THAT !!!! #Herbert Lehr #Plutonium #Trinity Test #gadget #1945 #july 1945 #manhattan project

[ernestlawrence]

July 16, 1945 – A long-exposure photo captures the Trinity nuclear test seconds after detonation. It was first atomic bomb blast in history.

#gadget #photo #nuclear weapons testing #july 16 1945 #trinity test

[ernestlawrence]

The only surviving colour image of the Trinity test. 16th July 1945. Jack Aeby. 

#jack aeby #photo #trinity test #1945 #july 16 1945 #gadget

[ernestlawrence]

July 16, 1945 – The Trinity test, the first ever detonation of an atomic bomb, took place in New Mexico as World War II raged across the globe

#gif #trinity test #gadget #gadget test #wwii #nuclear weapons testing

[ernestlawrence]

The “Gadget” - the World’s First Atomic Bomb Ready for Testing. Trinity Site, NM - July 1945

via reddit

#gadget #photo #atomic bomb #testing #nuclear weapons testing #1945 #trinity site #trinity test #july 1945

[ernestlawrence]

Radioactive Trinitite (aka Nuclear Glass, Alamagordo Glass, Atomsite)  - Trinity Site, White Sands Missile Range, Socorro, New Mexico

Fused silica sand from the test site of the first atom bomb test, July 16,1945

#trinity test #trinitite #trinitite is the COOLEST #i would sell my soul for it #gadget test

[ernestlawrence]

Trinity at .006, .025, 2, 4, and 9 seconds.

c. 1945

#trinity #trinity test #manhattan project #history #nuclear weapons testing #nuclear weapon #atmospheric test #july 1945 #if this isnt gadget im gonna be PISSED