On the fateful day of August 6, 1945, the second-ever atomic device, Little Boy, detonated over the city of Hiroshima killing 90,000- 166,000 people. Nearly half of the deaths occurred immediately after the bombing on the first day itself. In days to follow, many lost their lives or quality of life due to burns, injuries, illness, malnutrition and radiation sickness. Those who were killed are considered lucky by the survivors, since they did not even have enough time know what was happening, unlike the survivors who lived to suffer the after effects both physically and psychologically. The debate regarding the ethics of killing civilians in warfare still goes on with the critics holding their point of view that it is a crime to incinerate civilians en masse; whereas the defenders claim that the bombing was necessary to bring the war to a close, thereby saving countless American and other allies’ lives. Let us look into incidents that led to the explosion of Little Boy, which played a big role in ending the World War II and also some interesting facts about the first nuclear weapon used in war.

3. Measurement

The Little Boy weighed 9,700 pounds (4,400 kg) and measured 10 feet and 28 inches (3.71 m) in diameter.

4. Production

The Little Boy was devised by scientists and technicians at the Los Alamos Laboratory. J. Robert Oppenheimer was the leader of the project. The entire project operated under top secrecy by mobilizing top scientists and engineers and at unprecedented high costs to maintain secrecy.