Building the Bomb

Atom bomb used in Hiroshima (© Wikimedia Commons)

The detonation of an atomic bomb on August 6, 1945 marked the start of a deadly new race for military supremacy. The blast in Hiroshima, Japan was the largest the world had ever seen and was trumpeted as a victory of ingenuity – indeed some of the world’s greatest scientists worked on it. One of them was Joseph Rotblat (1908-2005), a man who spent the last 50 years of his life trying to prevent the use of the weapon he helped create.

Producer: Michele Ernsting

Broadcast: August 22, 2005