Here’s my photoset of Hiroshima and the Peace Park museum, today is the 64th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima… I’ve been there a few times, it’s an amazing city, vibrant, modern – and a reminder that we are the only species that we know of that has developed the means to completely wipe itself out, it’s a lot to think about.
The United States, in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada designed and built the first atomic bombs under what was called the Manhattan Project. The scientific research was directed by American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. The nuclear weapon “Little Boy” was dropped on the city of Hiroshima on Monday, August 6, 1945, followed on August 9 by the detonation of the “Fat Man” nuclear bomb over Nagasaki. These are to date the only attacks with nuclear weapons in the history of warfare.
The paper birds above are for Sadako Sasaki…
Ten years after the bombing, a young Japanese girl called Sadako Sasaki died from leukemia caused by radiation from the blast. Before she died, however, Sadako folded almost a thousand origami paper cranes. Sadako began her project because of a legend that said anyone who folded a thousand paper cranes would be granted a wish. She wished to healthy again so that she could run and play like before, and she pursued her goal with such determination that, although she died of her disease, she succeeded in transforming the paper crane into a symbol of peace for children all over the world. After Sadako’s death, children joined together to raise money for a peace park in Hiroshima, and a statue of Sadako holding a crane. Today there is also a small peace park with a statue of Sadako in Seattle, Washington, and children everywhere fold origami paper cranes in her memory and send them to Japan and Seattle threaded on long strings to be draped over the statue. Sadako’s story is used to teach children about the consequences of war, and the power of individuals to bring about change.
Also, check out…
Boston.com’s photoset.
A review of Dr. Atomic, a opera about building the first nuke.
Hiroshima: Memoir of a Bomb Maker … “The Gadget”
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