What Your Camera Flash Has to Do With an Atomic Bomb
On July 16th, 1945, 35 miles southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, the White Sands Proving Ground was rocked by a massive explosion.
US Airman Made Secret Copies of Film Showing A-Bomb Horrors
Lieutenant Dan McGovern stands amid the wreckage in Nagasaki, Japan at precisely the spot an atomic bomb had landed a month earlier. McGovern has a camera in hand, documenting one of the 20th century's most significant events.
What an Atomic Bomb Explosion Looks Like from Above and Below
On November 5, 1951, a 31 kiloton atomic bomb was dropped in the Nevada Test Site from a B-45 Tornado bomber. A camera in the air was documenting the test, and captured the video above showing what a large nuclear explosion looks like when looking down at it from above. Notice how the camera begins to shake when the shockwave of the blast reaches it.
Composite Photos of Tourists Watching Nuclear Explosions
Atomic Overlook is a startling series of images by photographer Clay Lipsky that shows tourists enjoying the beauty of mushroom clouds at atomic bomb tests. Lipsky writes,
Imagine if the advent of the atomic era occurred during today's information age. Tourists would gather to view bomb tests, at the "safe" distances used in the 1950's, and share the resulting cell phone photos online.
Lipsky created the images by combining photos taken during his travels over the last 8 years with photographs of nuclear bomb blasts.