Library of Congress
The atomic bomb was born at Los Alamos, New Mexico, in 1945. Although the bomb inflicted its greatest violence on the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, its impacts have since reached across the world, disproportionately affecting indigenous communities, colonial possessions, and fragile ecosystems. On Tuesday, August 1 at 12pm EDT, join the Manuscript Division and an interdisciplinary panel of scientists and scholars to reflect on the global legacies of the atomic bomb.
Since the end of the Second World War, the bomb has been tested more than 2,000 times, in the atmosphere and below ground. It has brought destruction to sites ranging from the American Southwest to the Aleutian Islands, from Oceania’s atolls to the Australian Outback, from South Asia to North Korea, from the Chinese frontier and the steppes of Kazakhstan to the islands of the Arctic.
The assembly of those bombs demanded a supply of radioactive material, which was often mined by human hands. The testing was conducted in remote locations, often indigenous and colonized lands, and the manufacture demanded institutional support: funding, infrastructure, and the vast networks of scientists and researchers that only governments and universities could provide. The result has been a poisoning of communities and ecologies: from the Navajo laborers who mined and milled uranium on their reservation, to a legacy of radiation exposure in Japan that extends from Hiroshima to Fukushima, to the still-uninhabitable Marshallese atolls of Bikini and Enewetak.
Panelists will make brief presentations on current research and discuss the bomb’s afterlives in America, Oceania, and Japan.
NOTE TO PARTICIPANTS:
Please request ADA accommodations at least five business days in advance by contacting (202) 707-6362 or ada@loc.gov.