Taber Calderon, No, 2015
Taber Calderon sent me a poster in memory of the event, and I began to collect more posters about the subject on Pinterest.
The bombing has profoundly influenced my life. I was about the age of Uwe Loesch's "Little boy" when it happened and could not possibly have understood what was going on, but remember that everybody was glad that the Americans with their might and cleverness had now finished the war, and admired them for it. An old man recently told me that people were eagerly waiting for the day when the american super-weapon would finally be used against Japan. Looking back, I now feel that my life long interest in all things nuclear, in physics, and in rational thinking has its roots in the general euphoria after the drop of the bombs. Observing my grandchildren, I am convinced that even small kids absorb much more from adults, parents and teachers, than we are aware of.
As I grew up, I studied physics and proudly called myself "atomic physicist". The history of my relationship with nuclear physics has been described in a web page A trip to Chernobyl. I also went to Los Alamos in the United States, where the bombs were built and saw a lifesize model of Little boy. Never did I, or anybody around me, have any doubts, or even thoughts that there is something morally wrong with a weapon that kills so many.
The tide turned slowly. The bombing is now seen as inhuman, and unneeded, a crime. At the same time, there are worldwide still more than 10'000 atomic bombs ready to be used, and development of nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles continues, but has disappeared from public interest.
Uwe Loesch, Little boy, 1995
"Little boy" was the code name for the Hiroshima bomb, the Nagasaki bomb was "Fat man" and much bigger.
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