Skip to content
Vatican Observatory
  • About
    • Overview
    • Team
  • Telescopes
    • Overview
    • Telescope Images
  • Latest
    • Overview
    • Resources
    • Press
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Research
    • Authors
    • Newsletter
    • Tucson Meteor Cameras
  • Podcast
  • Education
    • Overview
    • Resource Center
    • Image Gallery
    • Summer School
    • Books
    • FAQs
    • Software
    • Additional Resources
    • ACME
    • Ambassadors
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Support
    • Overview
    • Donate Now
    • Sacred Space Astronomy
      • View Content
    • Fr. Coyne Fundraiser
    • Bequests / Trusts
    • The Foundation
      • Newsletters
      • Annual Reports
  • Press
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • FAQs
  • About
    • Overview
    • Team
  • Telescopes
    • Overview
    • Telescope Images
  • Latest
    • Overview
    • Resources
    • Press
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Research
    • Authors
    • Newsletter
    • Tucson Meteor Cameras
  • Podcast
  • Education
    • Overview
    • Resource Center
    • Image Gallery
    • Summer School
    • Books
    • FAQs
    • Software
    • Additional Resources
    • ACME
    • Ambassadors
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Support
    • Overview
    • Donate Now
    • Sacred Space Astronomy
      • View Content
    • Fr. Coyne Fundraiser
    • Bequests / Trusts
    • The Foundation
      • Newsletters
      • Annual Reports
  • Press
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • FAQs

Skyward: May 2019

By David Levy  |  19 May 2019

Share:
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share via Email

Trinity

As the world prepared for war in 1939, a group of physicists was studying how to reproduce the behavior of a star on Earth: to split an atom, either quietly to provide a virtually unlimited source of power, or explosively to create a weapon of mass destruction. Worried that the Germans might develop an atomic bomb first, astrophysicist  Leo Szilard wrote a letter to President Roosevelt suggesting that the Americans should develop the bomb first. Thinking that the letter would have more impact if it were signed by the foremost scientist of that time, Szilard made two visits to Albert Einstein’s summer home in Cutchogue, on Long Island, New York. They persuaded him to sign the letter.

Einstein–Szilárd letter Scan of the letter sent to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 2, 1939, was signed by Albert Einstein but largely written by Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard. Public Domain.

Einstein’s letter had an immediate and powerful impact on Roosevelt. He immediately set in place the initial research that led to the start of the Manhattan project in June of 1942. Within three years, the first plutonium nuclear device was test detonated near Socorro, New Mexico in the Jornada del Muerto (ironically translated to Dead Man’s Journey) desert. J. Robert Oppenheimer named the actual test site Trinity, after the first lines in John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 14:

Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

On July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 am, the nuclear device detonated and the atomic age began. Just one month later, two bombs were exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, and the Second World War came to a sudden end.

Mushroom cloud Mushroom cloud of ‘Gadget’ over Trinity, seconds after detonation from the United States Department of Energy – Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie

It is now 73 years later. On April 6 our daughter Nannette, son-in-law Mark, grandson Matthew, friend David Rossetter, and Wendee and I visited Trinity Site. It was a special and emotional experience for us. We felt the shudder and silence of those who witnessed the blinding flash of light that turned dawn into noon across that lonely desert. The power and force of the detonation reinforced the feeling of scientists there that this weapon was not a joke. It was used in combat twice, and it is now a part of history. We visited that day to experience the effect on people who felt the shock wave from 160 miles away and who had to replace broken windows in Albuquerque, where our family lives today. We didn’t see much trinitite there, as the army did an excellent job removing the radioactive glass. We did not get much exposure to radiation either; according to Army statistics, our one hour visit to Ground zero gave us at most one millirem of radiation exposure, compared to an average annual dose of 620 millirems from medical and natural sources.

As we left the site, we passed a protest going on at the entrance; after all these decades, what happened that rainy July day in 1945 still has a profound effect on the people who lived and live in the atomic age. For a second that day, humanity witnessed the process of a star here on Earth.  And when I got home that night and looked up at the peaceful stars, I shuddered again.

Share:
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share via Email

Sacred Space Astronomy

The Vatican Observatory’s official digital community and online magazine.

Become a Member

Recent Posts

In the Sky this Week – June 28, 2022

By Robert Trembley  |  28 Jun 2022  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Agnes Mary Clerke, M31 and Thomas Aquinas

By Mr. Christopher Graney  |  25 Jun 2022  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

A Tiny Particle of the Creator

By Br. Guy Consolmagno  |  25 Jun 2022

2023 Vatican Observatory Summer School

By Robert Trembley  |  22 Jun 2022  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Archives

      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • August
      • June
      • March
      • January
      • November
      • October
      • December
      • November
      • April
      • May
      • January
      • December
      • September
      • May
      • March
      • December
      • November
      • February

More Posts by
David Levy

Skyward by David Levy: September 2021

By David Levy  |  22 Aug 2021  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Skyward by David Levy: April 2021

By David Levy  |  12 May 2021  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Skyward by David Levy: November 2020

By David Levy  |  20 Nov 2020

Skyward by David Levy: October 2020

By David Levy  |  9 Oct 2020

Skyward by David Levy: September 2020

By David Levy  |  21 Sep 2020

Skyward by David Levy: July 2020

By David Levy  |  13 Jul 2020

View More

Newsletter

Upcoming astronomical events, scientific breakthroughs, philosophical reflections… just a few reasons to subscribe to our newsletter!

  • *
Vatican Observatory
  • About
  • Telescopes
  • Latest
  • Podcast
  • Education
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Support
  • Press
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
Privacy Policy  |   Cookie Policy  |   Disclosure Statement

Podcast:

  • Apple Podcasts Listen onApple Podcasts
  • Spotify Listen onSpotify
  • Google Podcasts Listen onGoogle Podcasts
  • Stitcher Listen onStitcher
  • Amazon Alexa Listen onAmazon Alexa
  • TuneIn Listen onTuneIn
Made by Longbeard