Incredible LIFE pictures of the aftermath of a Cold War atomic bomb test

Date
17 July 2012

The American state of Nevada is most famous as being the home of Las Vegas, the pleasure capital of the world, but its empty stretches of deserts die a darker history. These incredible LIFE pictures by Loomis Dean capture the aftermath of a 1955 nuclear test designed to find out what manner of destruction an atomic bomb could reap on everything from homes, to canned food.

A small town populated by mannequins was erected and Loomis was right at the forefront as investigators inspected the effects of the bomb. His pictures have a winsome, straightforward beauty but also they unsettlingly echo a time – at the height of the Cold War – when humankind’s annihilation was a constant presence and exercises like this, as the excellent _LIFE _write-off pints out, were considered “routine.”

Above

Loomis Dean for LIFE: After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955

Above

Loomis Dean for LIFE: After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955

Above

Loomis Dean for LIFE: After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955

Above

Loomis Dean for LIFE: After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955

Above

Loomis Dean for LIFE: After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955

Above

Loomis Dean for LIFE: After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955

Above

Loomis Dean for LIFE: After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955

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Rob Alderson

Rob joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in July 2011 before becoming Editor-in-Chief and working across all editorial projects including itsnicethat.com, Printed Pages, Here and Nicer Tuesdays. Rob left It’s Nice That in June 2015.

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