Atomic Bomb Test during Operation Crossroads

Between 1946 and 1958 the United States experimented with nuclear weapons on Bikini Island in the Pacific. On 25 July 1946 an atomic bomb was exploded underwater along the coast. These images were printed in large format in Life magazine, with the caption: 'It was perhaps the most awesome man-made spectacle ever photographed.' These photographs allowed the public at large to see the destructive power of the atomic bomb for the first time.