In Their Words: Stories of Minnesota's Greatest Generation

Resource: Photo

Little Boy, the Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, 1945.

date:	1945
creator:	Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
source:	Courtesy Harry S. Truman Library
ID:	(noID)

The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 was code-named "Little Boy." It was the first atomic bomb to be employed as a weapon.

The bomb was developed in the top secret Manhattan Project during World War II. It derived its explosive power from nuclear fission of enriched uranium, and exploded with a force equivalent to about 14 kilotons of TNT. An estimated total of 140,000 people were killed, including those suffering from the bomb's after-effects.

Photo: A post-war model of the Atomic Bomb, "Little Boy," 1945. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, courtesy Harry S. Truman Library.