Atomic Bomb

The Manhattan Project (1942–1945) produced the world's first nuclear weapons. On August 6, 1945, the US dropped 'Little Boy' on Hiroshima (killing 70,000–80,000 immediately); three days later, 'Fat Man' was dropped on Nagasaki (40,000 killed). Japan surrendered on August 15, ending World War II — the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the project's scientific director, reportedly quoted the Bhagavad Gita upon the first test: 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' The Cold War arms race that followed produced over 30,000 nuclear warheads between the US and USSR. The concept of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) made nuclear war theoretically impossible — the weapons that could end civilization became civilization's protector.