''How to Photograph an Atomic Bomb'' is a history and photography book written by
Peter Kuran and published in 2006 by VCE.
Description
It documents the stories of the men who
photographed US
nuclear weapons tests
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected b ...
between 1945–1963 and the techniques they used to capture nuclear blasts on film. The book contains 250 photos and 12 technical diagrams, some of which were previously classified. Research on the book began while Kuran was working as an animator for ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...
''. He was able to interview and collect material from photographers who witnessed the blasts, whom he calls unrecognized patriots.
A traveling exhibit based on the book was purchased by the
Atomic Testing Museum
The National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, documents the history of nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in the Mojave Desert about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of Las Vegas. The museum operates as an affiliate of the Smithson ...
and put on display in 2007. In 2010, ''The New York Times'' featured a 23-image slideshow on its website with photos taken from the book accompanied by an audio recording of George Yoshitake, then one of the few surviving cameramen.
See also
*
List of nuclear weapons tests of the United States
The nuclear weapons tests of the United States were performed from 1945 to 1992 as part of the nuclear arms race. The United States conducted around 1,054 nuclear tests by official count, including 216 atmospheric, underwater, and space tests.Di ...
*''
Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie''
References
External links
Peter Kuran's websiteNevada Site Office photo archiveImages from ''How to Photograph an Atomic Bomb''
*{{cite web, url=http://www.printmag.com/article/four-photographs-of-an-atomic-bomb , title=Four Photographs of an Atomic Bomb , author=Drew Dernavich , publisher=Printmag.com , date= 14 September 2009, accessdate=2012-07-06
Books about nuclear issues
2006 non-fiction books
Photographic collections and books