It was indeed one of the darkest of times in America's history, especially as World War 2 is already nearing its end, with the Trinity Test only completing its development of one of the most destructive bombs in history. Unbeknownst to many, the Trinity Test and other nuclear projects of the country from 1945 to 1962 caused a radioactive fallout in 46 states.
Christopher Nolan's three-hour film, Oppenheimer, which tells the story of the father of the atomic bomb, joins the release of this recent study aiming to educate more about the lessons of the past.
Nuclear Fallout from the US Military's Trinity Test and MORE
A recent study published on arXiV talked about how much the early efforts of the United States in developing and testing its nuclear weapons have brought a country-wide nuclear fallout. As many as 46 states were affected by an almost 20-year period of testing weapons, with these tests continuing without much opposition from before.
However, it was not only the US that was affected by this, as it also reached parts of Canada and Mexico.
The Trinity Test alone, known for being under J. Robert Oppenheimer's direction of the Los Alamos facility, brought a significant amount of nuclear radiation. In under ten days, the test's fallout reached the said 46 states.
The US Dealt with a Radioactive Fallout from 1945 to 1962
"One hundred and one atmospheric nuclear weapon tests were conducted between 1945 and 1962 in the United States, resulting in widespread dispersion of radioactive fallout, and leading to environmental contamination and population exposures," says the study's authors.
According to Gizmodo, around 1951 to 1962, the US carried out atmospheric nuclear weapons tests.
This study focused on "atmospheric" tests, and this is where the weapons only affected the surface, e.g. nuclear mushroom clouds, and not those underground nuclear weapons testing.
Radioactive, Nuclear Weapons of the Early Days
The first and only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict is in the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, courtesy of the United States Air Force. This remains one of the darkest moments in history as it killed as many as 140,000 to 226,000 people in these Japanese Prefectures, effectively marking the end of World War II.
The Trinity Test is one of the most important moments of the atomic bomb, especially as this was the actual testing of what the Manhattan Project and other collaborators of the study have developed. In the present day's blockbuster movie, "Oppenheimer," Nolan aims to capture the experience by not using CGI to recreate the A-bomb's testing in Los Alamos using pyrotechnics.
As much as nuclear bombs and arsenal are owned by global superpowers now, there are still massive lessons from the past that only prove why such weapons should not be used or glorified.
The recent study, joined by the biopic from Nolan, are two significant messages to society, to prevent a future where the nuclear weapon is to be used, as fallout is unavoidable and may bring radiation that may be fatal to many.
