#trinity (nuclear test)

[loneberry]

The first-ever detonated nuclear bomb was named after a John Donne poem? Smh.

“[Jean] Tatlock had introduced Oppenheimer to the poetry of John Donne, and it is widely believed he named the first test of a nuclear weapon ‘Trinity’ in reference to one of Donne's poems, as a tribute to her. In 1962, Leslie Groves wrote to Oppenheimer about the origin of the name, and elicited this reply:

I did suggest it... Why I chose the name is not clear, but I know what thoughts were in my mind. There is a poem of John Donne, written just before his death, which I know and love. From it a quotation:

As West and East

In all flatt Maps—and I am one—are one,

So death doth touch the Resurrection.

In another, better known devotional poem Donne opens,

Batter my heart, three person'd God.”

*

I hereby declare that no poem of mine shall ever be used to name a bomb.

[criminalwisdom]

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: TRINITY AT 75 »

It took about 30 millionths of a second for the flash of light from the explosion to reach us outside the bunker at south 10,000. It took the blast wave about 30 seconds. There was the initial loud report, the sharp gust of wind, and then the long period of reverberation as the sound waves echoed off the nearby mountains and came back to us.

I got up from the ground and watched the now famous mushroom cloud rise in the morning sky. Apparently no one had told the military policeman, stationed at the door of the bunker to control access, what to expect. He was absolutely pale and a look of incredible alarm was on his face as he came away from the bunker door to stand beside me and view the sight. I simply said what was on my mind, “The war will soon be over.”

Via Hacker News.

[dieselfutures]

Trinity Nuclear Test

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Mushroom cloud of 'Gadget' over Trinity, seconds after detonation

[rjbailey]

Wikipedia article of the day for July 16, 2015

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 16, 2015 is Trinity (nuclear test). Trinity was the code name given to the first test detonation of a nuclear weapon. The name was taken from a John Donne poem by J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory. It was conducted by the United States Army on July 16, 1945, as part of the Manhattan Project on the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range in the Jornada del Muerto desert. The only structures originally in the vicinity were on the McDonald Ranch site, which scientists used as a laboratory for testing bomb components. A base camp was constructed, and there were 425 people present on the weekend of the test. It used a Fat Man bomb of the same design as the one that would be detonated over Nagasaki. The complex implosion-type nuclear weapon required a major design effort from the Los Alamos Laboratory, and testing was required to allay fears that it would not work. Its detonation (shown on video) produced the explosive power of about 20 kilotons of TNT (84 terajoules). The test site is now part of the White Sands Missile Range. It was declared a National Historic Landmark district in 1965, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places the following year.

[recentlywiki]

Trinity (nuclear test), Wikipedia article of the day for July 16, 2015

[recentlywiki]

New edit in the Wikipedia article on Trinity (nuclear test)

On June 28, 2015 at 05:33AM, Autonova made an edit the Wikipedia article on Trinity (nuclear test).

[recentlywiki]

New edit in the Wikipedia article on Trinity (nuclear test)

On June 24, 2015 at 11:43PM, Ian Rose made an edit the Wikipedia article on Trinity (nuclear test).