Los Alamos National Laboratory
research laboratory initially involved in the design of nuclear weapons
Episodes
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#5798: Project Sundial: Teller's 10-Gigaton Doomsday ProposalEdward Teller proposed a 10,000-megaton bomb in 1954. The physics allowed it — the delivery problem killed it. -
#5794: Starfish Prime: When the US Nuked SpaceIn 1962, the US detonated a 1.4-megaton warhead 400 km above the Pacific. The sky turned green for 90 minutes. -
#5793: Little Boy: The Untested Bomb That Changed WarThe gun-type bomb was never tested — yet it was the one they trusted. What Hiroshima's design and aftermath reveal about nuclear war. -
#5792: Tsar Bomba: The 50-Megaton Test That Shook the WorldIn 1961, the Soviets dropped the largest bomb ever built — a weapon with no military purpose, designed to be seen. -
#5651: Nuclear Convoys: The Physics Package and the HighwayThe most secretive objects on Earth move by truck on civilian highways — and people photograph them at rest stops. -
#5555: Five Machines That Peaked at the Wrong MomentConcorde, Buran, Iridium: the finest machines ever built for a paradigm that vanished while they were still on the drawing board.