A chilling map through time of every recorded nuclear detonation in history
The Atomic Age began with the United States’ first nuclear weapon test, code-named ‘Trinity’, on 16 July 1945. The attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred just a few weeks later. The following 70 years saw the spread of nuclear weapons to nine nations, including North Korea, which conducted the world’s most recent nuclear weapons tests in 2006 and 2009. This visualisation from the Canada-based artists Orbital Mechanics charts every nuclear detonation on record, showing the trickle of humanity’s most destructive weapon, from its first test in the US to all corners of the globe.
Video by Orbital Mechanics

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