The mushroom cloud is an iconic sight often identified with a nuclear bomb exploding. Now, netizens can watch dozens of declassified nuclear tests on YouTube, thanks to nuclear weapon physicist Greg Spriggs from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and film expert Jim Moye.
Engadget reports that the duo is working on around 6,500 preserved videos of nuclear tests between 1945 and 1992. These are primarily United States-conducted tests at Nevada and the Pacific Proving Grounds.
So far, the playlist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory YouTube channel only features 64 declassified videos. More will be uploaded as work on scanning the films progresses.
Spriggs is hoping to gather valuable scientific data from the old videos. That would include data not analyzed or inaccurately measured by scientists in the 1950s.
“By looking at these films, we found a lot of different pieces of information that had not been analyzed back in the ’50s,” Spriggs said. “And we’re discovering new things about these detonations that have never been seen before.” Alfred Bayle/JB