Hakan Aydin

Exactly 61 years ago today, on Jul 16 1945, the United States conducted the first test of the atomic bomb in a research facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico. About a month later, the weapon was used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which demonstrated the capabilities of this weapon of mass destruction. The horrifying power of the weapon forced many countries to try to develop it, to achieve protection from nuclear-capable nations (to guarantee mutually-assured-destruction!). Soon, in 1949, Soviets developed their own version of the atomic bomb which led to the beginning of the nuclear arms race.

Today, it is still the most terrifying weapon in the world. Many countries already have it in its stockpiles, and many more are trying to develop it. US and Russia lead the league with an estimated ~5800 warheads, followed by France, UK, China, India and Pakistan. Israel and North Korea are suspected to have nuclear weapons and Iran and Saudi Arabia are suspected to have clandestine nuclear weapon development programs.