Eyewitness Account of the Trinity Explosion
7/16/1945
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By the late 1930s, physicists believed a “super bomb” using nuclear fission was theoretically possible. In 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the MANHATTAN Project to develop such a weapon. The first test of the atomic bomb took place in the desert outside Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945.
This is a typewritten account of the detonation of the Trinity atomic device, written by physicist Luis W. Alvarez, who witnessed it from a B-29 aircraft flying 24,000 feet over the site. In this report, Alvarez comments upon the detonation itself, the formation of the mushroom cloud, and the observations of the shock wave by the pilot and other passengers in the aircraft. Included are two sketches Alvarez made of the developing mushroom cloud, with notations.
This is a typewritten account of the detonation of the Trinity atomic device, written by physicist Luis W. Alvarez, who witnessed it from a B-29 aircraft flying 24,000 feet over the site. In this report, Alvarez comments upon the detonation itself, the formation of the mushroom cloud, and the observations of the shock wave by the pilot and other passengers in the aircraft. Included are two sketches Alvarez made of the developing mushroom cloud, with notations.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Office of Scientific Research and Development.
National Archives Identifier: 594933
Full Citation: Eyewitness Account of the Trinity Explosion; 7/16/1945; Trinity; Records Relating to the Development of the Atomic Bomb, 1940 - 1945; Records of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, Record Group 227; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/eyewitness-trinity-explosion, April 26, 2024]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.