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The Trinity Test was the first nuclear explosion in history. On July 16, 1945, Los Alamos scientists set off the first atomic bomb in New Mexico’s desert. That test is part of a legacy of weapons development research in New Mexico, bringing millions into the state’s economy. It also left behind another legacy — communities downwind of the test site whose residents fell sick from radiation exposure.
1. Visitors can go to the blast site.
Part of White Sands Missile Range and owned by the Department of Defense, the Trinity site is accessible to visitors only twice per year: the first Saturday in April and the third Saturday in October. The most recent planned open house in April was canceled, but the site should be open to visitors again in October.
The spot where the bomb was exploded is marked by a black lava rock obelisk, and the McDonald ranch house where the bomb’s plutonium core was assembled has been restored. The ranch house is two miles south of the site of the test.
2. Trinitite was created by the blast.
When the first nuclear explosion took place, soil was fused from the heat into a glass-like substance. Green and gray in color, pieces of trinitite are typically smooth on one side with an irregular texture on the other, according to the ORAU Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity. Trinitite becomes less radioactive over time. A few pieces can still be seen at the Trinity Site.
3. Downwinders are still fighting for compensation.
The Trinity Test took place in the Tularosa Basin, and almost half a million people lived within a 150-mile radius of the test site, according to a National Geographic article. U.S. officials did not warn residents of the potential health effects of being exposed to the fallout material or to evacuate the area.
A federal program was created in 1990 to compensate people who got sick after being exposed to radiation because they were downwind of nuclear tests in Nevada or got sick after working in uranium mines. The program has never included New Mexicans downwind of the Trinity Test, and New Mexico downwinders and their families are still advocating to be included.
4. The Trinity test name was inspired by John Donne poems.
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Los Alamos Lab Director Robert Oppenheimer named the test and Donne was one of his favorite writers, according to the Los Alamos National Laboratory website.
In a letter to Gen. Leslie Groves, Oppenheimer quoted two Donne poems to explain the name choice, “Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness” and “Better my heart.”
“Why I chose the name is not clear, but I know what thoughts were in my mind,” Oppenheimer wrote. “There is a poem of John Donne, written just before his death, which I know and love.”
He was referring to “Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness.”
5. “Oppenheimer” movie increased public curiosity.
The 2023 “Oppenheimer” film increased interest in the Trinity Test. Based on the biography “American Prometheus,” the blockbuster grossed $329.9 million in the U.S. and Canada and over $970 million worldwide, according to the IMDb.com entertainment website. The movie got 13 Oscar nominations and won seven Oscars, including Best Picture.
After the film’s release, the Los Alamos History Museum saw a dramatic increase in visitors in the 2023 fiscal year: 68%, according to the Los Alamos National Laboratory website. The Manhattan Project National Historic Park saw website traffic double after the movie’s release, and the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos had a 50% increase in visitors from the previous year. More than 45,000 people came to the museum in 2023.
