  |
|
|
|
The Trinity test site in New Mexico was the location where the first atomic bomb was exploded.
The Trinity test site is located in the White Sands Missile Range in central New Mexico. On July 16th 1945, as the culmination of the Manhattan Project, the first atomic bomb was exploded here. White Sands is an almost idyllic setting for something as destructive as an atomic explosion. The actual white sand depository to the south of the Trinity site is an eerily peaceful place. Soft alkaline sands have collected in gentle dunes for millennia from rain runoff of the surrounding mountains in a dry basin with no outlet to the ocean. When the area isn't closed for testing, few visitors to this national monument can resist taking off their shoes and slithering toes into the cool sand below the surface, or taking a slide down a slope. It's a special place that invites calm and playfulness. North of Las Cruces and south of Socorro, the Trinity site itself is only open two times a year to visitors, the first Saturdays in April and October; this is still an operational military bombing range. The remoteness of the area made it an ideal location for the first atomic bomb test. At the time of the test, scientists weren't entirely sure what would happen. Some thought the bomb might not detonate properly, and some thought it might go so well as to ignite the atmosphere of the entire planet. Their calculations did indicate a large explosion, and the actual test went as predicted. The name Trinity was given to the site by the lead scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer read the works of the poet John Donne, who made several references to the Holy Trinity of Christianity. At the time, for security, it was important that the name didn't reveal the nature of the work. Trinity was appropriately vague. Oppenheimer probably chose a religious reference because this first test was a huge milestone in human history, but this isn't certain. After the war, Oppenheimer became an outspoken opponent of the nuclear arms race; he understood the magnitude of what he had helped usher in during the Manhattan Project.
The copyright of the article The Trinity Test Site in Physics History is owned by Katharine M. J. Osborne. Permission to republish The Trinity Test Site in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
|
|
|
