16 July 1945: The Atomic Age begins

On this day at 5.30am, the Atomic Age began after the first atomic bomb, nicknamed the Gadget, detonated in New Mexico.

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The Gadget exploded with the "radiance of a thousand suns"

Dangling from a steel tower in the desert at 5.29am on 16 July 1945 was a device so devastatingly powerful, even its creators weren't sure what they'd made. The physicists who had spent years working on their terrible weapon made bets on how terrible it would be from the safety of their laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

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