"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." thought J. Robert Oppenheimer, Director of the Los Alamos laboratory, recalling a line from his reading of the Bhagavad Gita, as he watched the first atomic explosion ever at the Trinity atomic test site at Alamogordo, New Mexico. "The gadget," as it was called, was hoisted to the top of a 100 foot tower and exploded at 05:29:21 local time, completely destroying the tower with an explosion equivalent to roughly 20 kilotons of TNT. The message indicating a successful test: "Operated this morning. Diagnosis not complete but results seem satisfactory and already exceed expectations...Dr. Groves pleased." was sent to President Harry S. Truman who was attending the Potsdam Conference in Germany. Thus began the Atomic Age. July 16, 1945. Sixty-eight years ago today.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 08:23:38 +0000
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