atomic

Nov 1, 2022

Today in military history: US tests first hydrogen bomb

On Nov. 1, 1952, the U.S. tested the first hydrogen bomb. After the United States dropped two atomic weapons on…

Nov 1, 2022

Jun 27, 2022

The US plan to survive a Soviet nuke was absolutely bonkers

A sudden flash. A mushroom cloud. A sudden expanding pressure wave. In the event of a thermonuclear attack, seeing these things means its probably too late to survive. So the U.S. developed warning systems to give Americans a heads up before the bom…

Jun 27, 2022

BYJessica Manfre

Feb 9, 2023

That time we almost launched the atomic bomb on North Korea

On November 30, 1950, the United States was deeply entrenched in the Korean War after suffering a surprise attack on…

BYJessica Manfre

Feb 9, 2023

Oct 20, 2022

How German nuclear scientists reacted to news of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima

The United States wasn’t the only country working on creating the world’s first atomic bomb during World War II. The…

Oct 20, 2022

Apr 29, 2020

Here’s how a physicist lit his cigarette with a nuclear-bomb explosion

There are all kinds of strange ways to light up a cigarette, from blowtorches to magnifying glasses. But few people on Earth have ever used as bizarre or overkill a method as devised by a Cold War physicist: the explosion of a nuclear bomb. On…

Apr 29, 2020

Apr 29, 2020

Why Albert Einstein begged the US to build an atomic bomb

On Aug. 2, 1939, one month before the outbreak of World War II, Albert Einstein, the famous German-born physicist, signed a two-page letter to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt that would help bring the US into the nuclear arms race and change the …

Apr 29, 2020

Apr 29, 2020

Seattle’s 6 secrets of surviving atomic attacks

Do you know what to do when the bombs fall? When the Soviet planes fill the skies and create an endless rain of hellfire on the cities of America? If not, the Seattle Municipal Archives have you covered, because they have a pamphlet from 1950 that i…