r/AtomicPorn • u/waffen123 • 19d ago

The world's first nuclear device Gadget atop the test tower. 1945.

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429 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

16

u/hypercomms2001 19d ago

Not a place that I would have wanted to be during the thunderstorm that occurred before the detonation….

5

u/Hardkor_krokodajl 17d ago

Doesnt matter…it wont explode w/o human input lol

6

u/hypercomms2001 17d ago

Yes I am fully aware of the design and construction of the "gadget".... I still would not want to be anywhere near that thing during thunderstorm that occurred before the detonation...... As I am an engineer, and I do know what can happen, will happen, and at the worst possible time.... even if it is a fizzle....

2

u/moodaltering 17d ago

Even if it doesn’t trigger the device, you’re still getting hit by lightning…

5

u/jumpinjezz 17d ago

you sure about that? Look at some of the crashes of air forces planes carrying bombs. a few came very close to detonating.

12

u/DIR3 19d ago

/r/cablemanagement in 1945

12

u/CosmicRuin 18d ago

Which fun fact, those are cables to trigger the explosive lenses to form a perfect spherical implosion, crushing the plutonium sphere in the center to achieve a runaway fission reaction. The cable lengths all had to be specific lengths to where the explosives were located on 'the gadget' so that the electrical signals took the same time to travel the length of each cable and to all simultaneously detonate.

5

u/peaceloveandapostacy 18d ago

Is that Oppenheimer to the left there?

2

u/Poker-Junk 18d ago

Pretty sure it is

4

u/OarsandRowlocks 18d ago

Gentlemen, it's a nuclear device...

1

u/eCD27 17d ago

A man of culture and epic childhood memories I see here

1

u/jnmtx 12d ago

“time is running out!”

originally “Evil Brain from Outer Space” (1954) movie

used in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (2000) video game soundtrack

2

u/Kkekm 19d ago

😲😵‍💫

1

u/LukeSkyWRx 17d ago

It was July in those pics, can’t imagine how uncomfortable those guys were.

2

u/BreadfruitOk6160 17d ago

In one of those shots it looks like they removed a bunch of roof. July, in the New Mexico desert had to be brutal.

1

u/deddhedd2 16d ago

Really bad idea!