Post archives
Filtering for posts tagged with ‘Nuclear testing’
2021
October 2021
29
Redactions
The untold story of the world's largest nuclear bomb, the Tsar Bomba, and the secret US efforts to match it.
2018
June 2018
29
Redactions
What would it take to turn the world into one big fusion reaction, wiping it clean of life and turning it into a barren rock? Asking for a friend.
2016
July 2016
25
Visions
On the anniversary of America's first nuclear disaster, when the Manhattan Project still ruled the bomb...
January 2016
9
News and Notes
Brief thoughts on the recent North Korean "H-bomb" test.
2015
July 2015
17
Visions
What does the Trinity test signify, in the broad sweep of human history?
2014
December 2014
1
Visions
There are thousands of photographs of mushroom clouds — so why do we always see the same ones?
November 2014
10
Redactions
The Trinity and Fat Man atomic bombs were powered primarily by plutonium — but not exclusively.
February 2014
28
Meditations
What is the legacy of the Castle Bravo nuclear test? How do we assess the human costs of the arms race?
January 2014
31
Visions
How the wonderful, terrible display of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb changed Andrei Sakharov's views on the responsibility of scientists.
2013
December 2013
23
Meditations
By looking at the trends of yield-to-weight ratios, we can peel back the veil just a tiny bit on nuclear weapons design trends.
13
Visions
Should films of nuclear detonations be put in art galleries?
November 2013
8
Meditations
A portrait of a year in flux, when the possibilities of a new order moved from the limitless to the concrete.
September 2013
9
News and Notes
Tune in on September 11, 2013, to hear me talk live from Philadelphia on the "nuclear age."
August 2013
2
Meditations | Visions
I thought I knew a lot about nuclear fallout, but digging into the details taught me some subtle but important points about how it worked.
July 2013
30
Visions
Two new photoessays about the first atomic bomb and its creators.
June 2013
21
Redactions | Visions
Making sense of the worst radiological accident in US history.
February 2013
25
Redactions
A poem and song, both classified "secret," shed light on the early days of continental nuclear testing.
2012
September 2012
5
Redactions
In 1955, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission experimentally answered the question none of us were asking: if you nuke beer, does it change the taste?
August 2012
3
Visions
Nearly seven decades into the nuclear age, there's a little bit of fallout in everyone.
July 2012
27
Visions
A recent Russian-language book has a treasure trove of rare images of the Soviet atomic bomb project.
20
Visions
A step-by-step guide to firing the Davy Crockett, the "atomic bazooka," and the smallest nuke in the Cold War US arsenal.
16
Redactions
A rare first-hand account of the first atomic bomb test, from the President of Harvard University.
13
Visions
What does an actual nuclear explosion sound like? Not what you'd think, from most nuclear test footage.
June 2012
27
Redactions
Hans Bethe on why it was safe to declassify Project SUNSHINE, a study of the global effects of nuclear fallout.
18
Meditations
What would have happened if the US hadn't decided to try and build an H-bomb in early 1950? Some alternative scenarios are considered.
15
Visions
Considering the test site of the first Soviet atomic bombs, from 1949 to the present.
8
Visions
Thoughts on attempts to re-capture the horror of a nuclear explosion.
May 2012
23
Redactions
Why praise of Operation Argus gives me the willies.
18
Visions
How many nuclear tests include showgirls? Not that many.
16
Redactions
Why Norris Bradbury didn't want to build the bomb... again. And what they ended up eventually doing about it.
