It was 75 years ago on July 16, 1945, that the Atomic Age was born. Los Alamos scientists changed the world forever with the successful detonation of an implosion-type plutonium weapon in the New Mexico desert. The Trinity Test is considered today as one of the most significant scientific achievements ever. Watch, read and learn why.
With a brilliant hot flash and a loud boom, the giant mushroom cloud with its fiery core filled the sky. The nuclear age had begun.
Ranging from vividly descriptive to deeply profound to a little comical, those who witnessed the Trinity Test had their own impressions of what they had just seen.
– Lab Director J. Robert Oppenheimer
– Physicist Norris Bradbury
– Physicist Edwin McMillan
A selection of notable and valuable resources chosen by Alan Carr, the Lab’s Senior Historian.
Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie: Peter Kuran, an animator for the original Star Wars trilogy and special effects artist, produced this documentary on U.S. atmospheric testing. Kuran won an Academy Award for film preservation and often offers consultation to LANL.
Trinity Test footage, including Trinity Films 1-4, Trinity site post-detonation footage, and post-detonation aerial footage of the Trinity Test, collectively offer a look at what is perhaps history’s greatest scientific experiment.
Ferenc Szasz’s “ The Day the Sun Rose Twice” is more than 35 years old, but this book remains a subject-matter authority today.
Jim Eckles’ book “ Trinity” addresses questions he received on staff at the White Sands Missile Range and also includes anecdotes found nowhere else.
