Hiroshima

“Fear is the oldest weapon in history. Throughout the life of mankind, it has been the resort of those who could not hope to prevail by reason and persuasion. It will be repelled today, as it has been repelled in the past — not only the steadfastness of free men…

Key point: While the B-29 was responsible for the three deadliest bombing raids in history—the firebombing of Tokyo and the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—its successor the B-50 never dropped a bomb in anger. Quiz time! Which secret American military project during World War II proved even more expensive than…

As the 75th anniversary of the nuclear bombing approaches, Robert Lepage’s extraordinary play returns to the stageBooks, arts and cultureProsperoWHEN “THE SEVEN STREAMS OF THE RIVER OTA” had its premiere at the Edinburgh Festival in 1994, critics were unsure what to make of it. One writer noted caustically that the…

In front of Tokyo’s Ōimachi Station stands a bronze statue of a woman, with one arm holding a little boy’s hand and the other raising toward the sky. On her raised hand, a bird perches with what seems to be a sprouting plant between its beak. Most passersby are likely to…

Key point: On a clear day, an airburst at 14,000 feet above ground level would produce a nuclear fireball two miles wide that would be hotter than the surface of the sun. Maj. Andrei Durnovtsev, a Soviet air force pilot and commander of a Tu-95 Bear bomber, holds a dubious honor…

In 2018 the Trump administration published its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), the highlight of which was the option of using low-yield nuclear weapons even in response to a non-nuclear attack. While the NPR says the US will consider using nuclear weapons only “in extreme circumstances”, such “extreme circumstances could include…

Rosamund Pike plays Marie Curie in Radioactive.Credit: StudioCanal and Amazon Content Services Radioactive Director: Marjane Satrapi Shoebox/Working Title/StudioCanal (2019)Surfaces in Radioactive catch the eye. Rainwashed Parisian cobbles, blackboards, laboratory glassware, the textures of linen and woollen clothing, even — startlingly — naked skin; all are carefully framed and lovingly lit.…

Rosamund Pike plays Marie Curie in Radioactive.Credit: StudioCanal and Amazon Content Services Radioactive Director: Marjane Satrapi Shoebox/Working Title/StudioCanal (2019)Surfaces in Radioactive catch the eye. Rainwashed Parisian cobbles, blackboards, laboratory glassware, the textures of linen and woollen clothing, even — startlingly — naked skin; all are carefully framed and lovingly lit.…

The Binnenalster and Central Station in Hamburg in 1941, cloaked against aerial attack. In 1941, the Nazis camouflaged an entire lake at the centre of Hamburg.A painted tarp was made to look like a bunch of city blocks from above, in the hope of misdirecting RAF bombers.But the Brits weren't…

Key point: Of course, none of these conventional weapons comes close to the power of a nuclear weapon. The United States Air Force has dropped one of the largest non-nuclear bombs ever built on an ISIS terrorist tunnel network in Afghanistan. The weapon—called the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast— was…