Posted on 07/18/2015 11:40:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway
1945 explosion lit up NM sky The world changed 70 years ago Thursday, when scientists in New Mexico successfully tested the first atomic bomb near Alamogordo.
Though the success of the Trinity Test is a scientific milestone, some say they paid a heavy price for history.
It was July 16, 1945, when an explosion lit up the sky above the White Sands Missile Range. The blast was a test of the world's first atomic bomb, developed and detonated in the Land of Enchantment.
"It was actually amazing, because in a very short period of time, essentially about three years, they went through the complete development of a nuclear device," said Jeff Mahn, a volunteer at the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
The museum held special lectures and had displays Thursday to honor the anniversary.
In the 1940s, the scientists at Los Alamos worked on the super-secret Manhattan Project and developed "The Gadget," this large ball of metal and wires. It was transported to White Sands Missile Range, to the spot that would come to be known as the Trinity Site.
In extremely rare footage, the scientists can be seen looping wires into tiny detonators. They hoist it to the top of a large frame, where it was set to go off early in the morning.
This successful test helped end World War II, but some people say the success of the Trinity Test came at the expense of a group of New Mexicans.
They call themselves the down-winders, because they lived downwind from the Trinity Site. The people say radiation from the Trinity test made them sick, and even passed illnesses on to their children.
Two atom bombs were detonated in Mississippi. One in 1964 and another in 1966 both in Lamar County. Both were roughly one third the power of the Hiroshima bomb and the only nuclear bombs detonated East of the Mississippi River.
I did not know that about nuclear tests in Mississippi. Very interesting. But that tidbit aside, this “news story” about down winders in New Mexico just doesn’t have any meat to it. The headline is repeated at the end of the summary about the tests in New Mexico and that’s it. Who were they? Where did they live? What happened to them? When did they become sick? Why did they become sick? This story and headline was probably just click bait, but it sure is disappointing to read. Not a single curiosity raised by the headline is answered.
I’m not aware of any evidence that nuclear radiation causes intergenerational defects. It didn’t happen at Hiroshima or Nagasaki, either. That said, if a fetus were in the womb at the time of the explosion, then there could be severe defects.
Those tests were underground.
ping
Here's a little history about the aftermath.
Thank you for the link. I was unaware of the shots in MS. I learn something new everyday.
They’re not the only “down winders.” There are a lot of us who were and still are “down wind” from Hanford in south central Washington State.
Click the Pic, turn up the Volume & go Full Screen
Those of us who lived in Southern and Central Utah in the early ‘50’s were the true “Downwinders,” thanks to the Nevada Test Site. In grade school, we were given iodine pills every week by government nurses.
This was ostensibly to “prevent” any radiation, though they didn’t tell us exactly that. What they told us was that it was for our thyroids, but at those ages, we had no clue. As innocents, we believed.
The people in Southern Utah, specifically St George, Moab and Kanab, suffered more than we did in Central Utah, with lots of cancer and lots of Down Syndrome children. Even John Wayne, and several of the cast and crew of “The Conqueror” fell victim to the radiation.
Today, I have CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome) and I blame it on the testing. And there are a lot of “us” out there.
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