On this day in 1945, at 5:29:45 a.m., the Manhattan Project comes to an explosive end as the first atom bomb is successfully tested in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
Plans for the creation of a uranium bomb by the Allies were established as early as 1939, when Italian emigre physicist Enrico Fermi met with U.S. Navy department officials at Columbia University to discuss the use of fissionable materials for military purposes. That same year, Albert Einstein wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt supporting the theory that an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction had great potential as a basis for a weapon of mass destruction.
In February 1940, the federal government granted a total of $6,000 for research. But in early 1942, with the United States now at war with the Axis powers, and fear mounting that Germany was working on its own uranium bomb, the War Department took a more active interest, and limits on resources for the project were removed.
Brigadier-General Leslie R. Groves, himself an engineer, was now in complete charge of a project to assemble the greatest minds in science and discover how to harness the power of the atom as a means of bringing the war to a decisive end. The Manhattan Project (so-called because of where the research began) would wind its way through many locations during the early period of theoretical exploration, most importantly, the University of Chicago, where Enrico Fermi successfully set off the first fission chain reaction.
But the Project took final form in the desert of New Mexico, where, in 1943, Robert J. Oppenheimer began directing Project Y at a laboratory at Los Alamos, along with such minds as Hans Bethe, Edward Teller, and Fermi. Here theory and practice came together, as the problems of achieving critical mass—a nuclear explosion—and the construction of a deliverable bomb were worked out.
Finally, on the morning of July 16, in the New Mexico desert 120 miles south of Santa Fe, the first atomic bomb was detonated. The scientists and a few dignitaries had removed themselves 10,000 yards away to observe as the first mushroom cloud of searing light stretched 40,000 feet into the air and generated the destructive power of 15,000 to 20,000 tons of TNT. The tower on which the bomb sat when detonated was vaporized.
The question now became—on whom was the bomb to be dropped? Germany was the original target, but the Germans had already surrendered. The only belligerent remaining was Japan.
A footnote: The original $6,000 budget for the Manhattan Project finally ballooned to a total cost of $2 billion.
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…and somewhere in the kingdom of heaven, or wherever the souls of good men and women gather after their earthly existence is done, tears of sadness fell, for the direction the human race was headed.
Calling WinMag22! Now WinMag has said repeatedly that nuclear weapons are a myth, that no nuclear devices were dropped on Japan and that the whole Cold War nuclear trident of Air, Land and Sea based missile systems are a lie! So here is your big chance popgun to show any evidence you have that Nuclear Weapons don’t exist! Grabbing popcorn!
Do you not know anything? Nuke Bombs are not possible because of the Van Allen radiation belt !!!!
Oh, wait … that’s Moon Stuff. Nevermind ….
Ummm, Hammer, I don’t know how to break this to you but Logic holds that one cannot prove a negative.
On the other hand, one can question the “positive” narrative very easily.
Why at Trinity where there stacks and stacks of boxes of HE on and around the platform? The HE lenses necessary for the induction of the super-critical event of the plutonium sphere would have been in the neighborhood of 50, perhaps 80 pounds max from examination of the gadget’s dimensions.
Why is the fact that Hiroshima was fire-bombed (Dresden-like) just prior to the dropping of Fat Man “disappeared” from the history?
Why, at both Nagasaki and Hiroshima, were the radiation deaths of both acute and chronic nature so attenuated with little downwind lethality? Both Fat man and Little Boy were supposedly detonated low enough to qualify as “near groundburst”…pretty feckin’ nasty fallout from such an event.
Why, at all surface test sites, the surrounding soil so limited in presence of fused glass (and “trinitite”, if you will) with advertisements of kilo- or mega-tonnage TNT yields demanding far more, and with wider distribution?
Why have all nuclear above-ground tests been from stationary sites? A A- (or H-) device is just the payload. The “bomb” is a mite more sophisticated with delicate electronics, vibration-dampening requirements. Don’t you think you’d want to know how the whole package works?
How come all ICBM tests are done with payloads of concrete? Me, I would want to see if all of my triggering components actually survived the violent vibrations, high Gs, and heat of re-entry. Easy enough to swap in a typical HE device to make sure all my components worked.
This is just the start of the questions but you can see where this is going.
Da P
Why is the moon made of cheese? See how that fallacy works? Ask seemingly interesting questions to give the appearance that reality might be something different. It is not. Alternatively you are asking the world to believe (that the oblong spheroid we inhabit is flat) that the trillions of dollars invested in developing nuclear weapons, protecting, delivering and negotiating massive agreements on such weapon systems are all a fraud….because you have asked a couple of questions with zero data to back up your claims (assertions don’t count as data).
Extraordinary claims (Nuclear weapons don’t exist) require extraordinary proof…..
This is classic self-delusion (very tulip mania/flat earth) where accepted truth to confirm your conclusion is based on no evidence.
If you have some actual evidence beyond “questions” please bring it forward. Not sure where this conspiracy theory started but please stop beclowning yourself.
https://www.quora.com/How-realistic-is-the-theory-that-nuclear-weapons-are-a-hoax-as-the-referenced-film-implies
and this (and I could add many more)
https://www.darkmoon.me/2015/the-no-nuclear-bombs-conspiracy-theory/
As stated, one cannot prove a negative.
I have asked a few very reasonable questions. Did I make assertions? Well, I reckon that I did, but they stem from readings and reviews of accounts on the ground over some 50 years now.
Questions regarding the test protocols are second nature to anyone who has ever been involved in process engineering and technology transfer. To put it simply, one tests EVERY DAMN LINK IN THE CHAIN. Seems like the supposed weapons community is taking a lot on faith.
BTW, I am not going to be arguing with you.
Whether they exist or not has no bearing on my life. I have no fear of them existing if they do. We’re all mortal, baby.
EDIT: There is little doubt in my mind that low-yield (under 50 kT) devices could exist in conventional bomb casings. However big baddies of greater than 500 kT in missile payloads put a real strain upon my credulity.
I am not wedded to a position of “It’s a hoax!” I am possessed of deep skepticism of anything I hear from “experts” or da goobmint. As you are attacking me for asking reasonable questions rooted in the realm of physical science, I am led to the opinion that you take the narrative whole.
Your link’s premise at “Darkmoon” is pretty much third-rate political argumentation based upon the narrative itself. However, you will find some excellent links there to photographs after the dropping of the A-bombs along with excellent questions about them – grounded in the physical sciences.
Sometimes, maybe all the time, it behooves us to sit back from authority-induced fear and ask who benefits from its generation.
Certainly not us proles. And Hammer? Have a great day, I love the moniker – ‘ol Charly is one of my favorites.
Da P
A number of African rebel groups have believed that going into battle naked would provide them protection from bullets…..your specious beliefs (again not a single fact provided) are equivalent. No is asking you to prove a negative…..simply provide any credible facts that the entire nuclear armaments industry, the IAEA, all the various arms control treaties, the obvious devastation of Bikini Atoll, untold number of filmed explosions and an incalculable number of scientific papers on the design of nuclear weapons are a hoax.
http://originalpeople.org/cannibal-warlords-liberia/
Hammer, now you are really reaching! Why does this even get under your skin? Why the devotion to the narrative?
I am not advocating a positive belief for other’s consumption and adoption. (Unlike your mis-analogized African tribe…) I am noting rather simply that the burden of evidence that something that exists rests with your side, not mine, n’est pas?
“the entire nuclear arms industry” – Okay, how big is it, where is it, and what is the annual funding, and do we know where the money is actually spent. Based upon scandalous accounting irregularities throughout the government, and especially the DoD, you cannot accurately answer any of those questions.
“the IAEA” – whose main mission for many decades now has been for trying to keep reactors safe (Fail on that, btw) and figure out ways to maintain safe storage of spent fuel. Don’t take my word for it, look ’em up to see what they have to say. (Spoiler alert…not much)
https://www.iaea.org/opic/annual-report-2017
How does one reason “That because IAEA exists therefore big, bad nuclear weapons exist.”? I cannot get there myself.
“all the various arms control treaties” – see prior comment. As again a part of the gubmints narrative, it still does not logically require the existence of nukes.
“the obvious devastation of Bikini Atoll” – and how much TNT or Compound B needed to be there to create the same effects. And, before you ask “What about the radiation?”, you might want to read up on the history of the Trinity test itself. I remember reading in the wayback that they did some testing of a few hundred tons HE, salted with isotopes to study “radioactive drift” with light winds aloft.
” untold number of filmed explosions” – yes there are…and with absolutely no way of verification that blasts came from fission as opposed HE detonation. No evidence of neutron flux emissions nor gamma bursts at a distance. Strange, when so easy to monitor and show.
“incalculable number of scientific papers on the design of nuclear weapons” – really? Where are they? They’re not classified? Let me at ’em! Seriously, I ain’t buying this steaming load. here’s why…
Years ago in a large midwestern city’s main hotel, I picked up a 3-page paper neatly stapled. The title was of a presentation on synthetic aperture radar. Two paras in and I decided “above my paygrade” and went to the main desk and asked if they had had a govt group meeting there that day. It was NOT hilarity that ensued with the Feds after I repatriated the paper and answered questions for awhile.
A few years later, in the PNW, I am having a brew with a buddy and his brother. They asked me to describe what I was working on. Turns out I was doing signal chopping and analysis to create a network-able set of non-destructible testing sensors for basic commodities. The brother’s face grew very alarmed. It turned out that I had accidentally stumbled onto a type of math that certain military branches were trying to adapt for use with their sensor capabilities. He apologized for leaving early but, had he stayed longer, he would have had to report our contact and it would have raised hell for both of us.
So…two minor brushes with pretty low-significance tech causes a lot of problems BUT you know of “incalculable number of scientific papers on the design of nuclear weapons”. Bullshit!
Don’t even bother. Your credibility with me is dead — completely, utterly, and forever, dead.
Da P
I don’t have to prove anything, you are the one making the claim that nuclear weapons are fake…..sort of like thse 150 warheads in Europe! Now seriously what is more plausible……that we invented and detonated nuclear devices many times and so have other countries or its all just a big hoax?
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-16/nato-affiliate-accidentally-reveals-locations-us-nuclear-weapons-europe
Two words: Tsar Bomba –
Pass the Strontium 90, please.
No scaling in the film. No evidence of gamma emission. No pre-test view of the site in question. Salting of test sites (using HE) with radionuclides to study drift was apparently standard procedure.
The burden of evidence is still on the “faithful” – – those who claim evidence of the positive existence of the fully functioning complex devices in the megaton range deliverable by missile via sub-orbital and/or orbital means.
Answer my original questions or get back on the porch.
You guys are probably completely entranced by even the least of street magicians.
Enjoy your bogeyman and clasp him to your breast!
Da P
the Cathedral was Ground Zero…Why was the dome still standing rather than being vaporized, dumbass? (Oh…it’s not showing here…why is that? And you are proposing that this is an “after action” photo from Tibbets? Just so you know, I KNEW Fred Olivi…you can look him up.)
And answer the rest of the salient questions already posed.
Good luck with that! And, I am done here, as you only can bring up self-referential narrative.
Cheers,
Da P
http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/MED/index.shtml from the dudes who built the bomb…..talk about BDA…..Bomb Damage Assessment.
Just some standard napalm firebombs and the streetcars were back running on a full schedule in less than a week.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki are clean, modern, revitalized, and most importantly, radiation-free!
https://imgtc.ws/cF3cBIO
Since my military days, I always have a bag of large marshmallows and a panatela standing by for when the balloon goes up.
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-gen-curtis-lemay-in-uniform-smoking-large-cigar-news-photo/50426595?adppopup=true
I think the first paragraph should read “near Alamagordo”, not “in”.
Hoaxed.
Perfect fuel for the Cold War and billion dollar black budgets.
http://mileswmathis.com/trinity.pdf
Come on popgun, man up and proclaim (yet again) why you believe (with no evidence) that Nuclear weapons are not real….that they don’t actually explode!
Once again…
The burden of proof rests upon those who claim a positive existence.
So far, all you have to offer, is a narrative delivered straight from the Matrix. No physical, testable truth, at all.
No answer, even weak, to the questions posed.
You probably think that David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear and that the shell-game and 3-Card-Monty are fairly balanced.
Good luck with that, and enjoy your fear-dom!
Peace out,
Da P
You pretend to offer scientific alternative explanations and challenging questions. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. I am not making any claims other than to say the 70 year history of nuclear weapons is mostly accurate in that 1) nuclear weapons exist 2) that Nuclear weapons do in fact explode with devastating energy relative to chemical explosions and 3) that there is not a worldwide hoax perpetuating a falsehood that 1 and 2 are true/real.
Alternatively you and others are claiming that there is a worldwide hoax regarding nuclear weapons and in fact, the science is just wrong…meaning it was a hoax from the Manhattan project forward.
Sorry the burden of proof is on you
Think of the Heliocentric model of our solar system. Copernicus offered a radical new paradigm that put the Sun at the center of the solar system not the Earth. The burden of proof was on him as he was showing that the current paradigm was incorrect. Turns out Copernicus was right and he fundamentally advanced scientific knowledge of how things actually work.
So if you want to actually advance the discussion of how things actually work with nuclear weapons it is up to you to show that the conventional wisdom and orthodoxy is wrong and prove it with scientific rigor.
Tick tock…..