The Manhattan Project | Scientific Achievement vs Ethical Responsibility (Republish)

During the summer break, the 15-Minute History podcast team are republishing some of their favorite episodes. This episode originally aired on May 5, 2025.

Season 9 begins Monday, October 7!

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It was still dark. The group of men felt the breeze getting warmer as the eastern horizon began to show signs of light. One of the men, tall with no expression, watched as final preparations were made to a large object in front of the group.

The others saw the anxiety in his face in a way that only those had had been around him could discern. The man walked forward, spoke with some of the technicians, and watched them haul it away. It was going to a tower, visible in the distance. Conversations around him continued, but only because it seemed like they had to. Somehow, the silence would have been louder.

Not long after, notifications came from the tower; an all clear was given. At 5:29 a.m., a flash of light that was so brilliant it could be seen from 200 miles away blossomed in the desert. The mushroom cloud rose 40,000 feet into the air, and the shock wave was felt 100 miles from ground zero. The man who all that morning had worn no expression, would later recall remembering a Hindu scripture in that moment: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

Another man who witnessed the test described the overwhelming impression it left: "A new thing had just been born; a new control; a new understanding of man, which man had acquired over nature." Another observer said, "The lighting effects beggared description. The whole country was lighted by a searing light with the intensity many times that of the midday sun."

Humanity had crossed a threshold.

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Join us as we show you the Manhattan Project, the reason behind the development of nuclear weapons, and the ethical implications of such an invention.