Witnesses to Radioactive Contamination 185
sand. Overnight, dark dots appeared on the negative that prove that the crater
was radioactive.
Goro’s photographs testify to his participation in an exclusive press reception at the Trinity test site, guided by General Leslie R. Groves and Dr. J.
Robert Oppenheimer. The article states that the reporters were supposed
to investigate a “weird question.” 40 The reference was to a statement “of
the Japanese” that the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were in part highly
radioactively contaminated. Rescue workers in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
were said to have died from radioactive radiation, even though they had not
been in either city at the time of the explosions.
Contrary to his knowledge at the time about the effects of radiation, 41 Groves
asserts that “the Japanese” were wrong and cites as a comparison the Trinity
atomic test. The soil at Trinity is described as “not fatally radioactive,” even
though the bomb was detonated only about 30 m above the ground. With the
radioactivity estimated at the crater, it was calculated that six hundred hours
spent at the site would have meant certain death. Groves emphasizes that
the altitude of the explosion of the bomb is responsible for radioactive contamination. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as Groves argued, the bombs were
detonated at an altitude of 500 and 600 m, respectively. Hence, he claimed,
the radioactivity was carried away by hot air and did not reach the ground.
Groves describes the contamination as harmless because of the low altitude
of the detonation at the Trinity test site (roughly 30 m above the ground) and
likewise in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. His specious argument makes it clear
that he wanted to emphasize the successful detonation of the “Gadget” and
not the long-term risks of radioactivity. He denies the danger so that he and
the US government need not admit their guilt.
Not coincidentally, no illustrations were published to indicate the devastating effects of the bombs in Japan. Instead, the article was supplemented by
an eyewitness report: “Nagasaki was the Climax of the New Mexico Test.” 42
Its author was William L. Laurence, who had watched the dropping of the
atomic bomb over Nagasaki from an escort plane. Laurence was a journalist
for the New York Times and also worked as a science journalist for the Physical
Review. In April 1945, he was appointed by General Groves as the official
historian of the Manhattan Project and was the only journalist allowed to
take part in the Trinity test. “Atomic Bill,” as his colleagues at the New York
Times called him, already indicated in the headline of his article that the plutonium bomb had been tested in the New Mexico desert in order to drop it
over Japan.
Goro’s aerial photograph of the Trinity site was given the following caption: “The first atomic bomb’s crater is a great green blossom in the desert
near Alamogordo. The lighter splash around the dark center, which was made
when the explosion’s heat melted the desert sand, is a layer of glass 2,400 feet
across.” 43 The trinitite, which as green glass shined like a “blossom” in the
desert, was fascinating because it had been formed “by a blast of heat greater
than the temperature at the surface of the sun.” 44 The local situation can be
sand. Overnight, dark dots appeared on the negative that prove that the crater
was radioactive.
Goro’s photographs testify to his participation in an exclusive press reception at the Trinity test site, guided by General Leslie R. Groves and Dr. J.
Robert Oppenheimer. The article states that the reporters were supposed
to investigate a “weird question.” 40 The reference was to a statement “of
the Japanese” that the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were in part highly
radioactively contaminated. Rescue workers in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
were said to have died from radioactive radiation, even though they had not
been in either city at the time of the explosions.
Contrary to his knowledge at the time about the effects of radiation, 41 Groves
asserts that “the Japanese” were wrong and cites as a comparison the Trinity
atomic test. The soil at Trinity is described as “not fatally radioactive,” even
though the bomb was detonated only about 30 m above the ground. With the
radioactivity estimated at the crater, it was calculated that six hundred hours
spent at the site would have meant certain death. Groves emphasizes that
the altitude of the explosion of the bomb is responsible for radioactive contamination. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as Groves argued, the bombs were
detonated at an altitude of 500 and 600 m, respectively. Hence, he claimed,
the radioactivity was carried away by hot air and did not reach the ground.
Groves describes the contamination as harmless because of the low altitude
of the detonation at the Trinity test site (roughly 30 m above the ground) and
likewise in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. His specious argument makes it clear
that he wanted to emphasize the successful detonation of the “Gadget” and
not the long-term risks of radioactivity. He denies the danger so that he and
the US government need not admit their guilt.
Not coincidentally, no illustrations were published to indicate the devastating effects of the bombs in Japan. Instead, the article was supplemented by
an eyewitness report: “Nagasaki was the Climax of the New Mexico Test.” 42
Its author was William L. Laurence, who had watched the dropping of the
atomic bomb over Nagasaki from an escort plane. Laurence was a journalist
for the New York Times and also worked as a science journalist for the Physical
Review. In April 1945, he was appointed by General Groves as the official
historian of the Manhattan Project and was the only journalist allowed to
take part in the Trinity test. “Atomic Bill,” as his colleagues at the New York
Times called him, already indicated in the headline of his article that the plutonium bomb had been tested in the New Mexico desert in order to drop it
over Japan.
Goro’s aerial photograph of the Trinity site was given the following caption: “The first atomic bomb’s crater is a great green blossom in the desert
near Alamogordo. The lighter splash around the dark center, which was made
when the explosion’s heat melted the desert sand, is a layer of glass 2,400 feet
across.” 43 The trinitite, which as green glass shined like a “blossom” in the
desert, was fascinating because it had been formed “by a blast of heat greater
than the temperature at the surface of the sun.” 44 The local situation can be