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.
A chilling map through time of every recorded nuclear detonation in history
Video by Orbital Mechanics

videoWar and peace
A glimpse of daily life for people in isolated, war-torn Myanmar
13 minutes

videoHistory of technology
The Americas’ oldest book is an intricate work of Maya astronomy
9 minutes

videoDesign and fashion
Beyond fortune-telling – the enduring beauty and allure of tarot
16 minutes

videoChildhood and adolescence
A project takes teens from war-torn regions to schools in Canada
25 minutes

videoHistory
The dry-stacked stones of Zimbabwe are a medieval engineering wonder
7 minutes

videoWar and peace
The extraordinary craft and fascinating symbolism of a pre-Incan ceremonial shield
3 minutes

videoHistory
In Stalin’s home city in Georgia, generations clash over his legacy
20 minutes

videoHistory
In the face of denial, this film uncovers the hidden scars of Indonesia’s 1998 riots
21 minutes

videoMedicine
Drinking wine from toxic cups was the 17th century’s own dubious ‘detox’ treatment
11 minutes