The Bomb Drops

Abstract

After Robert Oppenheimer saw the first atomic bomb explosion at Trinity at 5:30 on the morning of July 16, 1945, he recalled a line from the Bhagavad-Gita spoken by Vishnu, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Among the worlds that were destroyed by the announcement of Hiroshima was the world of the ten German scientists interned at Farm Hall. As we have seen, prior to this announcement, such was their sense of importance that they had persuaded themselves that their personal fates were being decided in a conference involving Truman, Stalin and Attlee. They were sure that their superior knowledge was a ticket to riches in places as far flung as Argentina. Then came Hiroshima—“the destroyer of worlds.”