Journal Article Analysis: ‘‘Taking Hell’s Measurements’’: Popular Science and Popular Mechanics Magazines and the Atomic Bomb from Hiroshima to Bikini

Journal Article Analysis:

‘‘Taking Hell’s Measurements’’: Popular Science

and Popular Mechanics Magazines and the

Atomic Bomb from Hiroshima to Bikini

            “Taking Hell’s Measurements,” explains how Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazine tried to influence the public by downplaying the effects of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Bikini test site in Nevada. Following the Japanese attacks at Pearl Harbor, The United State made the decision to attack Japan with an atomic bomb as retaliation for the surprise attacks which killed a total of 2,335 U.S. servicemen and wounding 1,143 (Rosenberg, 2011). The attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II, which would eventually lead to the era of atomic explosives. Following the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt would explain the devastation to the American people, by stating December 7, 1941 would be "a date that will live in infamy." The American people used the attack as motivation to destroy any country trying to invade the United States, or threaten the freedoms of the America.

            Prior to the attacks in 1940, America had been experimenting with the developments of atomic weaponry. The developments began after Albert Einstein warned the United States government that Nazi Germany had been conducting tests on the effects of atomic weaponry. With the war continuing on in 1945, and the massive casualties suffered by every country involved, the United States made the decision to test the first atomic bomb in New Mexico. The most influencing factor for the test is when advisers warned President Truman, any type of invasion on Japanese soil would result in mass casualties to American soldiers. On August 6, 1945 President Truman ordered the first atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima, killing approximately 80,000 people and killing thousands more in the following weeks from radiation. Two days later President Truman made the decision to drop another bomb on the city of Nagasaki, Japan killing 40,000 more people, causing Japan to surrender, and putting an end to the war.

            Popular Science and Popular Mechanics would use the atomic bomb after the war to influence society of how atomic energy could benefit the future, by providing environmental benefits, cures for disease, and economic development. Popular Mechanics focused on using atomic super explosions in order to extinguish large forest fires, calm severe hurricanes, and clear ice from shipping lanes in cold climate areas, clear forestry to build roads and massive dams (McDermott 5, 160–162). Popular Science would take on the role of how to promote atomic energy in order to help medical research and claiming, ‘Telltale atoms may soon strip the mystery from some of man’s deadliest enemies—cancer, hardening of the arteries, diabetes, heart disease’’ (Nitkin 145). After seeing the type destruction caused by the atom bomb across the world, people wanted to believe that atomic energy just wasn’t going to be used for destruction, but had the potential to help lead society through the 21^st century by providing new energy resources.

            The following year the United States announced it would be testing multiple atom bombs in the area of Bikini Atoll, Japan; Bikini Atoll was a small island off the coast of Japan, used as a radar installation during the war. In 1945, the last year of fighting, the U.S. landed a small force to secure the site. The battle was brief and had no strategic significance. As the war ended, the United States decided that Bikini Atoll would be suitable for nuclear detonation tests, and shortly before Christmas 1945 it was selected to be the site of the world's fourth and fifth atomic bomb detonations. Soon after the bombs being tested, Popular Science wrote an article describing the effects of the radiation fallout from the explosions titled, “Taking Hell’s Measurements” (Popular Science 65, 91). In the article, the radiation left behind from the bombs, was described as more deadly than the bombs themselves, leaving the public with the feeling that an atomic future was not looking as good as it was described in previous articles. Popular Science and Popular Mechanics tried to establish in the years between Hiroshima and Bikini, and what “Taking Hell’s Measurements” essay tried to depict, is society being able to understanding the atom, and how its discovery affected American culture. Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines used their magazines to explain the how the atom would benefit their readers, by “Taking Hell’s Measurements.”

            “Taking Hell’s Measurements,” tells us a lot about the public’s mindset in the 1945 era, the atom bomb had been depicted as providing new resources for a bright future, and in reality it was nothing but a radioactive deadly weapon of mass destruction. After reading the article a person may understand why the public could be deceived by such claims, prior to the 1940s people had not been exposed to atomic or nuclear energy.

            The author of the article Scott C. Zeman did an excellent job of explaining how the media was willing use magazines to make the public believe that something so destructive, could be so beneficial to society. History claims that the atomic bomb which killed around 200,000 people actually prevented the loss of more lives, due to the mass destruction of the bomb ending the war, causing the Japanese surrender after its deployment.

References

History.com (2006).”Cold War” Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Retrieved from: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima

McDermott, W. F. ‘‘Bringing the Atom Down to Earth.’’ Popular Mechanics  Nov. 1945: 1 – 168.

Nitkin, Nathaniel. ‘‘‘Tracer Bullets’ on the Trail of Cancer.’’ Popular Mechanics, June 1946: 145.

Popular Science, Sept. 1946: 65, 91.

Rosenberg, J. (2011). Pearl Harbor Facts; Facts About the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. About.com 20^th Century History. Retrieved from: http://history1900s.about.com/od/Pearl-Harbor/a/Pearl-Harbor-Facts.htm

ZEMAN, S. C. (2008). “Taking Hell's Measurements”: Popular Science and Popular Mechanics Magazines and the Atomic Bomb from Hiroshima to Bikini. Journal Of Popular Culture, 41(4), 695-711.