The Atom Bomb
On August 2, 1939 , just before the beginning of World War II, Albert Einstein wrote to then President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Einstein and several other scientists told Roosevelt of efforts in Nazi Germany to purify uranium-235, which could be used to build an atomic bomb. It was shortly thereafter that the United States Government began the serious undertaking known then only as "The Manhattan Project." Simply put, the Manhattan Project was committed to expediting research that would produce a viable atomic bomb.
Upon witnessing the explosion, its creators had mixed reactions. Isidor Rabi felt that the equilibrium in nature had been upset as if humankind had become a threat to the world it inhabited. Robert Oppenheimer, though ecstatic about the success of the project, quoted a remembered fragment from the Bhagavad Gita. "I am become Death," he said, "the destroyer of worlds." Ken Bainbridge, the test director, told Oppenheimer, "Now we're all sons of bitches."
As many know, the atomic bomb has been used only twice in warfare. The first was at Hiroshima Hiroshima August 6, 1945 . The Aioi Bridge Ota River
The area of total vaporization from the atomic bomb blast measured one half mile in diameter; total destruction one mile in diameter; severe blast damage as much as two miles in diameter. Within a diameter of two and a half miles, everything flammable burned. The remaining area of the blast zone was riddled with serious blazes that stretched out to the final edge at a little over three miles in diameter.
While the explosion from an atomic bomb is deadly enough, its destructive ability doesn't stop there. Atomic bomb fallout creates another hazard as well. The rain that follows any atomic detonation is laden with radioactive particles, and many survivors of the Hiroshima Nagasaki
The atomic bomb detonation also has the hidden lethal surprise of affecting the future generations of those who live through it
During the early history of The Atomic Age, it was a popular notion that one day atomic bombs would be used in mining operations and perhaps aid in the construction of another Panama Canal . Needless to say, it never came about. Instead, the military applications of atomic destruction increased. Atomic bomb tests off of the Bikini Atoll and several other sites were common until the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was introduced
The First Atomic Bomb Blast was introduced in 1945
The events that took place in a remote area of New Mexico July 16, 1945 forever changed the world. In the early morning darkness the incredible destructive powers of the atom were first unleashed and what had been merely theoretical became reality.
Some feared the consequences of radio-active fallout on civilian populations surrounding the test site. Still others feared the test would be an outright dud. Observers were sent to surrounding towns to monitor the results of the blast and medical teams were kept on alert.
The test was the culmination of three years' planning and development within the super secret Manhattan Project headed by General Leslie R. Groves. Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer directed the scientific team headquartered at Los Alamos , New Mexico
Everyone sensed 'This is it!' No matter what might happen now all knew that the impossible scientific job had been done. Atomic fission would no longer be hidden in the cloisters of the theoretical physicists' dreams.It was a great new force to be used for good or for evil.
Anti protests
Protester Bertrand Russell addressed a rally organized by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in Trafalgar Square September 20, 1959 . Russell had played a leading role in the establishment of this anti-nuclear pressure group early the previous year and remained its President until resigning in October 1960 over disagreements about tactics with others in the organization's leadership.
Bertrand Russell had also given his speech at the Hiroshima Vigil in Hyde Park on August 6, 1961 . Russell was prevented from completing his address by police who instructed him that the use of a microphone contravened Park regulations. The meeting adjourned to Trafalgar Square
