Today marks a special day in history. The United States (currently the only country to use nuclear weapons during war) tested it's first bomb on this day, in 1945.
The greatest minds in the western world were gathered together to solve a problem. They did. The impact changed our world.
Robert Oppenheimer (one of the primary scientists studying the technology) was at the Trinity Test Site when the first test occurred. He was rumored to have quoted a line from the Bhagavad Gita...."Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." He knew that in that bright flash, the world had changed.
It is said that the resulting attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Some scholars even suggest that the Japanese required a massive and immediate attack that would allow them to surrender in a manner that would save face. Had the US not dropped the bombs, the required land-force attacks would have created massive casualties on both sides, taking years to bring to a resolution. "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" (the code names of the bombs) ended the war.
So...what's my point?? Simply put, the greatest decisions are more complicated than we can ever understand. The vaporization of hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives, it can be argued, saved hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives. It boggles the mind.
The greatest minds in the western world were gathered together to solve a problem. They did. The impact changed our world.
Robert Oppenheimer (one of the primary scientists studying the technology) was at the Trinity Test Site when the first test occurred. He was rumored to have quoted a line from the Bhagavad Gita...."Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." He knew that in that bright flash, the world had changed.
It is said that the resulting attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Some scholars even suggest that the Japanese required a massive and immediate attack that would allow them to surrender in a manner that would save face. Had the US not dropped the bombs, the required land-force attacks would have created massive casualties on both sides, taking years to bring to a resolution. "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" (the code names of the bombs) ended the war.
So...what's my point?? Simply put, the greatest decisions are more complicated than we can ever understand. The vaporization of hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives, it can be argued, saved hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives. It boggles the mind.
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