“They took some effort” to protect the public, he said. Based on census data at the time, the consortium estimates there were tens of thousands of people living within a 50-mile radius of the blast, Ms. Cordova said. “Ash fell for days afterward in the landscape and in every direction and in amazing quantities,” she said. It was not the first plea to reconsider using a nuclear bomb to end the war. A month before the test, a committee, which included Dr. Szilard and was headed by the German scientist James Franck, issued the Franck Report, urging the United States to first demonstrate the power of the weapons to members of the United Nations.

Source: New York Times July 15, 2020 10:52 UTC