“If there is another world war, this civilization may go under.”
These were the words of J. Robert Oppenheimer in a 1950 interview. Oppenheimer, considered the “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” is the subject of a biopic directed by Christopher Nolan, which opened July 20. As of Aug. 6, “Oppenheimer” had grossed $500 million worldwide.
The film details the work of the physicist who directed the Manhattan Project, the code name for the U.S. effort to develop the atomic bomb. Most of the research and tests took place at Los Alamos in New Mexico and involved thousands of people, both in New Mexico and in Chicago and Oak Ridge, Tenn.
This past week marks 78 years since the U.S. dropped its atomic bombs on Hiroshima (Aug. 6) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9). By estimates at the time of the bombs, between 60,000-70,000 died in Hiroshima and 20,000-40,000 in Nagasaki. Tens of thousands were injured and many of those died as a result of radiation sickness within months. The numbers have been studied, hashed over and discussed in the 70+years since the bombs. There are many factors that contribute to the analysis, too. But the bottom line is hundreds of thousands died, whether they were incinerated the day of the bombs or died slowly as a result of radiation exposure really doesn’t matter.
The victims in Japan weren’t alone. There were thousands of people in the Southwestern U.S. who became victims of radiation sickness from exposure in the uranium mines starting in the 1940s, as well as from 94 million gallons of radioactive waste that spilled into the Puerco River when a dam broke on the Navajo Nation near Church Rock in New Mexico July 16, 1979. The spill contaminated water supplies in nearby communities, nearly all of which are home to indigenous people. Moreover, an article in last month’s New York Times reported that researchers have concluded the fallout from the Trinity test July 16, 1945 spread to 46 states within 10 days of the successful testing of the bomb. “Trinity” is the code name given to the test. According to Alex Wellerstein, a nuclear historian at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, quoted in the article, “The drift of the Trinity cloud was monitored by Manhattan Project physicists and doctors, but they underestimated its reach. They were aware that there were radioactive hazards, but they were thinking about acute risk in the areas around the immediate detonation site. They had little understanding about how the radioactive materials could embed in ecosystems, near and far. They were not really thinking about effects of low doses on large populations, which is exactly what the fallout problem is.”
Revisiting such horrific events is difficult. It’s as hard to look at the devastation of Hiroshima as it is Pearl Harbor, Auschwitz, even Sept. 11. But it also is necessary. The old adage, that those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it, is real. Those of us who know history, who study history, who lived history understand that, at some point, we need to make a change. Even more important are the thousands–maybe millions–of young people who know nothing about history, for whom even 9/11 has no real relevance. There worlds revolve around technology, social media, gaming. They lack the understanding that we have the capability as a nation–as do the other “superpowers” from the Cold War era–to wipe out civilization 1,000 times over. Nuclear weapons are supposed to be a deterrent–a reminder of how we can kill off every living thing on our planet–if we cannot work out our differences in a peaceable way. Oppenheimer knew first-hand the devastation that was unleashed by this scientific discovery that decimated so many people.
If we fail to teach our children and grandchildren that getting along is as critical to life expectancy on Planet Earth, that peace isn’t just some silly notion their grannies talked about in the 1960s, that we literally are all in this together, then I think we fail at our peril.
As Oppenheimer said, ” “Mankind must unite—or we will perish.
SQUIBS 