Trinity

The ATOMIC AGE began at 5:30am on July 16, 1945 [ Seventy Years ago today ], when the United States Army detonated the world’s first nuclear weapon in New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto desert.

we waited until the blast had passed, walked out of the shelter and then it was extremely solemn…

if the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky that would be like the splendor of the mighty one…

the optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds and the pessimist knows it.

-j. robert oppenheimer

The test, code-named “Trinity,” was a success, unleashing an explosion with the energy of about 20 kilotons of TNT and beginning the nuclear age.

Since then, nearly 2,000 nuclear tests have been performed. Most of these took place during the 1960s and 1970s. When the technology was new, tests were frequent and often spectacular, and they led to the development of newer, more deadly weapons. Since the 1990s, there have been efforts to limit the testing of nuclear weapons, including a U.S. moratorium and a U.N. comprehensive test ban treaty. [Source: The Atlantic]

Links:

• J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904 – 1967)
• Bhagavad Gita
• Atomic Archive
• 70 Years Since Trinity: The Day the Nuclear Age Began – The Atlantic
• Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty – UN
• Iran, major powers reach historic nuclear deal ending 12-year stand-off – ABC