The Age of Radiance (70 page)

7. On December 2, 1942, Fermi and Szilard’s nuclear reactor burned to life in a squash court, which Soviet intelligence translated as “pumpkin patch.” One of the most dangerous experiments in the history of physics, it was flawlessly executed.

8. Norman Hilberry and Leo Szilard outside the University of Chicago’s abandoned football stadium, where nuclear power was born. Szilard convinced Einstein to write Roosevelt letters warning of Hitler’s nuclear intentions; these ignited the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Age.

9. Robert Oppenheimer and Ernest Lawrence in a 184-inch cyclotron in 1946. They began the era as the closest of friends, but ended it as enemies over arms control and Robert’s affairs.

10. The Trinity gadget—covered in electrical explosive charges that had to be executed with perfect timing and geometry to compress its inner plutonium core and achieve fission.

11. At sixteen milliseconds after ignition on July 16, 1945, the first nuclear bomb’s combination of plasma, ionized air, and debris created a “skin” that made it look like a biological creature rising from the deserts of New Mexico.

12. Edward Teller was the Richard Nixon of physics, testifying against Robert Oppenheimer and leading Ronald Reagan down the path of Star Wars. But many believe his invention of the hydrogen bomb made Alfred Nobel’s dream come true, keeping the Cold War cold and the world at peace.

13. Los Alamos’s Little Boy uranium bomb was so simple, and its fuel so rare, that its first test detonation would be in the skies over Hiroshima.

14. Fat Man—the “gadget” as weapon—trundled across Tinian Island on its way to Japan.

15. Over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945: the second and last time an atomic weapon was ever used in war.

16. On July 1, 1946, Able exploded over Bikini, creating revolutions in both weaponry and swimwear.

17. Thousands of atomic bombs were test-detonated in Nevada; May 23, 1953, marked the first time a nuclear warhead was shot from a cannon.

18. This mannequin family lived a typical US sub-urban lifestyle until a nuclear bomb exploded fifty-five hundred feet from their Nevada test home on May 5, 1955.

19. During the heyday of atomic euphoria in the United States, Gilbert produced a 1950 children’s toy with a Geiger counter, cloud chamber, spinthariscope, electroscope, and five radioactive elements.