“The explosion of the first atomic bomb at the Trinity site in New Mexico on 16 July 1945 had a transforming impact on the scientists and military officials who witnessed it. Robert Jungk observed in Brighter Than a Thousand Suns that many of those present—who otherwise professed no religious faith—”recounted their experiences in words derived from the linguistic fields of myth and theology.” General Thomas Farrell, deputy director of the Manhattan Project, described the “strong, sustained, awesome roar which warned of doomsday and made us feel that we puny things were blasphemous to dare tamper with the forces heretofore reserved to the Almighty.”
Read excerpts from my book Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas
David Cortright 