Atomic Bomb "Fat Man" weapon dropped on NagasakiFat ManNagasaki

 April 30, 1945 Hitler and his wife Eva Braun commit suicide in his Berlin bunker.  May 8, 1945 Germany surrenders.  Japan is the only one left to defeat.

 From 1942 to 1945 the U.S. has spent $2 billion ($23 billion in 2007) to design and build three atomic bombs. (money was often appropriated secretly)  The atomic bomb was the result of a massive research project known as the Manhattan Project.  Albert Einstein sent President Franklin Roosevelt a letter warning of German attempts to build a nuclear bomb.  1 st test of an atomic bomb: July 14, 1945  Cracked windows 75 miles away.

An early stage in the "Trinity" fireball”. Trinity was the first test of technology for a nuclear weapon. testnuclear weapontestnuclear weapon

Ground zero after the test.

August 6, 1945  Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

The mushroom cloud over Hiroshima after the dropping of Little Boy. mushroom cloudHiroshimaLittle Boymushroom cloudHiroshimaLittle Boy

This view was taken from the Red Cross Hospital Building about one mile from the bomb burst.

An overview of the destruction of Hiroshima

August 9, 1945  Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

The Fat Man mushroom cloud resulting from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rises 11 mi, 60,000 ft) into the air from the hypocenter. Fat Manmushroom cloud nuclear explosionNagasakihypocenterFat Manmushroom cloud nuclear explosionNagasakihypocenter

Nagasaki before and after bombing

Facts about the Atomic Bomb  Dropped from 30,000 feet  Detonated at 1,900 feet above the center of the two Japanese cities.  78,000 people died in less than 1 second. (Hiroshima)  4 square miles of land disappeared.  Over 150,000 Japanese died in the two explosions.

 The energy released by the bomb was powerful enough to burn through clothing. The dark portions of the garments this victim wore at the time of the blast were emblazoned on to the flesh as scars, while skin underneath the lighter parts (which absorb less energy) was not damaged as badly.

 Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945  At the White House, President Harry Truman announces the Japanese Surrender. August 14, 1945

World War II Ends  World War II officially ends September 2, 1945.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi (16 March 1916 – 4 January 2010)  A Japanese national who survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings during World War II. Japanese nationalHiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombingsWorld War IIJapanese nationalHiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombingsWorld War II  Although more than one hundred people are known to have been affected by both bombings, he is the only person to have been officially recognized by the government of Japan as surviving both explosions. government of Japangovernment of Japan  A resident of Nagasaki, Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on business for his employer Mitsubishi when the city was bombed on 6 August Mitsubishi  The following day he returned to Nagasaki and, despite his wounds, returned to work on 9 August, the day of the second atomic bombing.  He died of stomach cancer in January stomach cancerstomach cancer