It’s been exactly 63 years, to the minute, since the first atomic explosion ushered mankind into the Atomic age. The Manhattan Project, as it was called, would eventually reign down the most terrible hell on earth, but may also have saved the entire planet from a much worse fate.

Here is an incredible one hour educational video, called The Moment in Time: The Manhattan Project, created by the University of California which documents the history that led to the development of the bomb.

By the way, here is a little description of that photo I’ve attached:

At the time this photo was made, smoke billowed 20,000 feet above Hiroshima while smoke from the burst of the first atomic bomb had spread over 10,000 feet on the target at the base of the rising column.

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After years of war, US military leaders came to believe that the Japanese military would literally fight to the last man. Although Axis forces were already defeated in Europe and Japan was losing on their front, many US officials believed that bringing an absolute end to the war with Japan was going to be a long and bloody ordeal.

When presented with the new Atomic option they reasoned that the loss of 2-300,000 people in Japanese cities would be measurably fewer lives lost than the continuation of the War. (We must remember that this was prior to the advent of smart weaponry, and that entire cities would be fire-bombed prior to invasion and hand to hand combat in trenches. War was hell.)
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