Nuclear Test: "Operation Upshot-Knothole" 1953

[Homer J Simpson]

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3

[EEVblog]

The engineering that must have gone into all these tests and developments etc, must have been incredible. The data acquisition systems alone are incredible feats.

[John Coloccia]

One of the best books I've ever read is "Manhattan Project: The Untold Story of the Making of the Atomic Bomb", by Stephane Groueff. I highly recommend picking it up if you can.

[TimFox]

There is a very interesting nuclear testing museum in Las Vegas, operated by UNLV.
Highlights:
Lots of propaganda movies.  I visited with a Soviet emigre, and asked him if he had ever seen propaganda in his youth.
One wall covered with survey meters.  Every garage in the Southwest must have made them.
A very interesting display of equipment and photos from the underground testing.  Heavy-duty mining was required to set up the tests.

[John Coloccia]

What's amazing is that the K-25 uranium enrichment plant (gaseous diffusion) was literally slapped together as quickly as possible, in about a year and a half, designing and redesigning as they went along...there was a war to win, after all, and we were terrified someone else would get there first.  Despite that, the plant ran reliably for over 40 years.  I doubt that anyone ever considered that this thing would be capable of running for decades.  It was really an engineering masterpiece.