It’s no secret that nuclear weapons are some of the scariest things that humanity has created, and after the end of World War II, everyone was trying to make them bigger and better. In fact, most of the top world powers spent the next 30 years trying to perfect them.
Recently, the U.S. declassified their test footage of over 1,000 varied bomb tests between 1945 and 1962, and allowed the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, whos job is to ensure the safety, security and reliability of the U.S nuclear stockpile, to restore and scan the footage. Originally, the footage of these explosions on various ocean atolls, underground, and in the ocean, were locked away in high security vaults, never to be seen again. Instead, physicists at the lab fought to have the footage released so it can be analyzed, as nuclear testing is banned today and they wanted to understand the yield and capabilities of the nukes the U.S. still has in stock. Of the 10,000 reels, only 7,500 have survived the test of time, and 750 of those have been officially declassified. The lab has spent the past 5 years restoring the footage and put 65 of the reels on YouTube for the public to see.
These are terrifyingly beautiful, in a “end-of-the-world” kinda way.
You can see the whole playlist HERE!