Gadgetory

july 16 1945 this is the darkness of a desert morning and here in New Mexico a group of men wait tensely expectant behind them three unbroken years of work work done in unprecedented secrecy motor de lourdes the New York Times reporter who said all that McConnell ternity time Stood Still space was contracted to a pinpoint it was as though the earth had opened in the skies split one felt as though vehicle published to witness the birth of the world to be present at the moment of creation when the Lord said let there be right at Trinity in 1945 we proved a self-sustaining reaction could become an explosive force and that the implosion principle was sound we had a starting point they were simulating an aerial burst because they knew they were going to do aerial burst over Japan because they wanted to get the maximum explosion on the ground or maximum PSI on the ground and you do that by exploding above ground the one used in Nagasaki was identical to this one that material for that bomb was already on a boat headed for Tinian when this test was done you know this site produced more fallout than either the Japanese sighs more radiation fallout radioactive fallout chicken for Trinitite friend of the night was that sand fused when the blast went off and it's radioactive that one's just users like a green glass or flag and we little bit on the group of geeks here from all over the country to come to one of the two days a year the place is open to see what what it looks like just the same doesn't seem to register much above the background I don't know that you would be able to kill somebody with it more than any other group of individuals the world's great scientists like physicists J robert Oppenheimer realize the grave responsibilities of our new knowledge science has profoundly altered the conditions of man's life both materially and in ways of the Spirit as well as extended the range of questions which man has a choice his extended man's freedom to make significant decisions no one can predict what vasc new continents of knowledge the future of science will discover but we know that as long as men are free to ask what they will free to say what they think free to think what they must science will never regress the freedom itself will never be wholly lost used to be that we would get people coming here that actually saw this test people who lived in the area and that was always interesting to tell their stories it's usually I was awakened by a shockwave where I saw a flash of light that lit up the sky and they had no idea what it was of course until I would also run into World War two veterans who would come and a lot of them will come up to you and say you know save my life I had orders for the pacific or if you survive the battle of the bulge and now he's got to go into the pacific so that was always interested technology can be used for a wide range of things you can make big things that go boom and you can also make things that research the universe and our no no direct threat to anybody if the goal of astronomy is to resolve is the physics of distant objects we're trying to understand the evolution of objects the devolution of things that we see the origin the physical processes one of the key things you need for that is spatial resolution so in order in radio astronomy to get high angular resolution we need really big telescopes and it turns out that you can get the information you want although not all at once if you build little telescopes separate them by 20 or 30 miles bring their signals together and process that product and that will eventually after considerable processing get you the same information by looking at the spectral composition and the spatial composition spatial meaning with angle astronomers can get very strong clues into the physical processes that are going on the particular object the Ray was officially completed in 1980 and since that time it has been the most productive the most powerful flexible radio telescope on earth so who funds this the National Science Foundation which has a mandate for pure research funds The Very Large Array and funds the great majority of the funding for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory why does the National Science Foundation do this I don't actually have a really good answer for that i can give you my personal answer research is a like a window to the future it opens up new things it is also by doing this kind of research we inspire the next generation not necessarily to do astronomy or physics but into exploring their curiosity to understand their environment so the National Science Foundation from the way I look at it funds research projects not necessarily to improve the gross national product not necessary to solve any specific human or technical issue but to open up new information that might be of use in the future you you