Eighty years ago, the United States used a weapon of almost unbelievable power against Japan
A B-29 bomber flew from the island of Tinian in the Pacific over 2,500 kilometers to the Japanese city of Hiroshima
carrying the world's first nuclear weapon, nicknamed Little Boy. The U.S. had intentionally spared Hiroshima the bombings experienced by other Japanese cities
so the power of the new weapon could be assessed. Hiroshima's population had swelled to 350,000 as military personnel and refugees from other cities crammed its streets
The bomb, containing 64 kilos of highly enriched uranium, was dropped in clear skies, detonating at 600 metres above the city centre
An estimated 80,000 people were killed instantly as the fireball incinerated the centre of the city, vaporising people and melting buildings
Fires burnt for days as the death toll rose, the overwhelmed authorities dealing with something they'd never experienced before
radiation poisoning. The city of Hiroshima estimates that 140,000 people were killed by the single bomb
with an explosive force equal to 15,000 tons of conventional explosives. And yet, just seven years later, the United States tested its first hydrogen bomb
nearly 700 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Thank you