We all know what happened on August
6, 1945: the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, destroying an entire
city and killing thousands and thousands of people.
What could exist only in fantasy books became true: mankind touched its lowest bottom.
However, what many people don’t know is that the atomic bomb was brought about by a glorious and revolutionary discovery in science.
Up to that moment it was common
belief that an atom couldn’t be split. But in the late 1930s two German scientists,
Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, started to experiment with radioactivity and nuclear
fission of atoms of uranium: they bombarded uranium with neutrons achieving surprising
results which were in contrast with what had always been believed up to then.
And then, in 1939, the revolution
happened: they discovered that when an atom splits, it generates a powerful
burst of explosive energy.
But the excitement of the discovery
soon became fear of nuclear weapons.
For this reason an Hungarian
scientist emigrated to the US, persuaded Einstein to write a letter to the US
president Roosevelt to alert him about the dangers of the nuclear weapons. The
American president seemed to be
reluctant at the beginning, but then he
was convinced by one of his men and established the Advisory Committee on Uranium.
Not too
late after that, in 1942 the “Manhattan project” was approved. It was a US project
made by a group of scientists, aiming to the development of weapons and
especially atomic bombs. It was created to
face Germany, which was thought to have been developing atomic weapons since the
early 30s. In fact, the German intelligence had discovered the direction of
nuclear research in the United States and
had started to carry on their own research.
But the main target of America was
Japan.
In July 1945, the newly elected president, Harry Truman, called
for Japan’s surrender, warning the country that they would face utter destruction.
Indeed, 350 Japanese airplanes had bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, forcing the US
to enter the war.
And then in July 16, 1945, in New
Mexico, the group of the Manhattan project launched the first successful atomic
bob, called with the code name “Trinity Test”. The cloud of the radioactive
vapor caused by the explosion was 9km high and the bright light of the
detonation exploded with such intensity that the flash was perceived at a
distance of 220km.
Here’s what Robert Oppenheimer, an
American physicist, declared right after the explosion: ”Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”, referring to the
bomb and to himself, one of its makers.
The director of the test too seemed to have caught the potential danger of
what he had before his eyes.
On July 24, President Truman informed
Stalin that the US had “an unprecedented new
weapon with destructive power”’. His men had advised him that it was
necessary to inform URSS about the success of the Manhattan project. President Truman was surprised that Stalin
didn’t show any particular interest for the news of the bomb: as a matter of
fact, all that he said was that he hoped for “a good
use against Japan” .
Years later they would find out that
his silence was related to the fact that URSS had been developing their own
nuclear program.
On July 25, an order was written that
authorized the use of the atomic bomb against Japan, signed by president
Truman. The order didn’t say anything about military goals or saving civilians.
Three cities were chosen as their targets: Hiroshima, Kyoto and Niigata, but this last
one was replaced with Nagasaki because of its cultural significance.
It was a war declaration agains
Japan: US, URSS and Great Britain approved the plan.
But the prime minister Suzuki openly announced that Japan would ignore
the ultimatum.
On August 6, at 8.15am a bomb called
Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima by Enola Gay.
70 Thousands of people were killed
and many others injured in an instant. It exploded at a temperature of one
million degrees centigrade, creating a giant hot fireball.
Seeing the huge cloud after the
explosion, co-pilot Robert Lewis scribbled on his notebook: ”oh my God, what have we done?”.
Pilot Paul Tibbes, who had named the
plane after his mum, looked back and saw “a
giant purple mushroom boiling upward”. Then over the income he announced to
his crew: ”Fellows, you have just dropped
the first atomic bomb in history”.
Futaba Kitayama, an eye witness who
ran for her life, would then tell: ”I
looked up and saw an airplane as silver as treasure flying from east to west
coast in the cloudless blue sky. Then someone next to me screamed “A parachute
is falling!”. Few seconds later that parachute exploded into an indescribable
light”.
She also recalled that there were “bodies floating like dead dogs” and
thought: ”Could such terracing sights be
of this world?”.
3 days later, another bomb called
FatMan would be dropped on Nagasaki. The bomb was dropped at 11.02am but,
luckily, the hills surrounding the city did a good job in containing the destructive
force of the bomb. However, the number
of people killed is estimated between 60,000 and 80,000.
As it was not enough, the
responsible for the Manhattan project, was ready for another bomb to use
against Japan on August 17 or 18.
But , luckily, it didn’t happen:
Japan surrendered on August 14.
After the dropping of the bombs, the plane’s
pilot Tibbets repeatedly steadily that he felt no personal guilt for doing what
he said was “his military duty”.
However he would then doubt his statement.
Co-pilot Lewis instead raised money
for medical treatment for the Hiroshima maidens, young girls who have been
disfigured or crippled by the explosion.
A special mention must be reserved
to Einstein , who openly regretted the role he had had in the development of
the atomic bomb. He said: ”Had I known
that the Germans would not succeed in producing an atomic bomb…I would have
never lifted a finger”.
Maria, 4scB
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