The Atomic Age, also known as the Atomic Era, is a phrase typically used to delineate the period of history following the detonation of the first atomic bomb, Trinity, on July 16, 1945. Although nuclear science existed before this event, the following bombing of Hiroshima, Japan represented the first large-scale, use of nuclear technology and ushered in profound changes in socio-political thinking and the course of technology development. Atomic power was seen to be the epitome of progress and modernity.
However, the Atomic Age fell far short of what was promised because nuclear technology has produced a range of social problems, from the arms race, to the Chernobyl disaster and Three Mile Island accident, and the unresolved difficulties of bomb plant cleanup and civilian plant waste disposal and decommissioning.
Read more about Atomic Age: Early Years, Atomic Vs. Nuclear, World War II, 1950s, 1960s, 1970 To 2000, After 2000, The Atomic Age in Pop Culture
Famous quotes containing the words atomic and/or age:
“No atomic physicist has to worry, people will always want to kill other people on a mass scale. Sure, he’s got the fridge full of sausages and spring water.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“The philosopher is in advance of his age even in the outward form of his life. He is not fed, sheltered, clothed, warmed, like his contemporaries. How can a man be a philosopher and not maintain his vital heat by better methods than other men?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)