Yamaguchi Tsutomu was one of the many people in Hiroshima the day it got bombed. He survived, and then went home... To Nagasaki. Just in time to get nuked again. And, again, he lived. He died in 2010. So if you think you're having a bad week, just remind yourself that you haven't been nuked once, let alone twice.

@_Abjuranax_

4 жыл бұрын

There was also an incident in Chad during the 70's, where a nuclear round was detonated, and Rhodesian troops walked into the area. My friend who was in charge of those troops, passed away last year.

@vortex6818

4 жыл бұрын

@John Barber why would you want one?? If he said he was his friend then he is.But if he lied,nothing's gonna happen anyway

@megaprojects9649

4 жыл бұрын

Yep, I made a video about this a while back on one of my other channels :)

@shaider1982

4 жыл бұрын

Lived to be 90 plus. I think he lived longer than any of the crew of Enola Gay.

@millardwashington6216

4 жыл бұрын

I heard he was in the hospital telling his unbelieving boss what had happened when he got confirmation !!!

In the sci-fi TV show Stargate SG-1 there is an episode (S05E21 - Meridian) where an alien civilization is building a weapon akin to our nuclear bombs, but with much higher destructive power. In that episode they say they of course don't want to use the weapon, but merely use it as a deterrent against further aggression from their enemies. The show's protagonist, in turn, says some of the most memorable and truthful words about nuclear weapons: "A weapon of mass destruction can only be used for one thing. Now, you might think it will ensure peace and freedom, but I guarantee you it'll never have the effect you're hoping for until you use it, at least once." It illustrates perfectly why, as terrible as the bombings of Japan were, they served to ensure the world's relative peace ever since then. Minor conflicts aside, no war on a global scale has ever happened again since then. Nukes are a terrible thing, but they serve their purpose as a threat of mutually assured destruction. They are possibly the only reason the Cold War didn't escalate into World War 3, and they are possibly the only reason the west has been free of major conflict for the past 75 years.

@peten2956

4 жыл бұрын

Very well said!

@reubeng2110

4 жыл бұрын

Naqaudria bombs are a crime against sentient beings

@reubeng2110

4 жыл бұрын

They did then it created a chain reaction with normal naqaudah threatening to destroy the entire planet and to clinch it all they needed another bomb to save the planet

@emanuelescarsella3124

4 жыл бұрын

Yesss but... I think that Marshal plan, the European project, the NATO and the ONU might have something to say about your "the only reason"😂 Personally I think that those agreements did a much better job to keep the peace than the nuclear bombs. Also because it avoided the escalation of the cold war but was also one of the main reason the cold war happened 🙄

@TigerXGame

4 жыл бұрын

@@emanuelescarsella3124 I did say 'possibly'. Of course NATO and all the other stuff contributed, but tensions ran pretty high during the cold war and the nukes definitely did their part to make both sides think twice about their possible breach of agreements overall.

So looking forward to Oppenheimer this week. Was stoked to see Simon made a video on The Manhattan Project

@stevenclarke5606

9 ай бұрын

I tried to see the film last week and it was sold out, going to try again

“Sir, they have a city destroying bomb” ... “oh shit”. This might be the best quote I could have heard 😂

"On the Planet Earth, man had always considered himself more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much; the wheel, New York, wars, and so on - Whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water, having a good time. Conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were more intelligent than Man...for precisely the same reasons." So true, Doug...So true.

@deadfreightwest5956

4 жыл бұрын

So long and thanks for all the fish!

@Wppk765

4 жыл бұрын

This message has been approved by Slartibartfast

@andersjjensen

4 жыл бұрын

This is one of those points where you feel like posting "the finger raising guy" meme :P

@atish365

4 жыл бұрын

@Paul Hogsten Fuck off you dumb fuck

@deadfreightwest5956

4 жыл бұрын

@@Wppk765 - "My name? It's not important. Ever been to Norway?"

Large Hadron Collider might be an interesting one to cover or possibly LIGO.

@wayfarerzen3393

4 жыл бұрын

Definitely want to see this covered. I have never seen a documentary made on how it was made. Simon covering it would be awesome.

@megaprojects9649

4 жыл бұрын

Just watched the video I got back from the editor yesterday! It's coming very soon :). Maybe even later this week!

@jenniferneasham1531

4 жыл бұрын

One of the LIGOs is where I live, my ex-husband worked on the project for about 18 months, baking out the long tunnels so they had a vacuum and the laser would shoot straight.

@jodystevens1333

4 жыл бұрын

The people at CERN should stop what they're doing don't look for the God particle only bad things can happen when you look for things you don't understand

@Imaginertiophile

4 жыл бұрын

@@jodystevens1333 Like antibiotics, air travel, and pasteurization! All works of the DEVIL! Now where'd we put our Trump posters??....

Suggestion - Snowy Mountain Scheme. Most would never have heard of it.

6:37 Excellent choice of a background photo for Colorado. That is Colorado National Monument and you can find Uranium Ore on the eastern side of the Monument. Actually it’s from the same geological formation that the Uranium for the Manhattan Project was mined. It was milled just down the road at the Mill in Grand Junction. I collected Carnotite (Uranium Ore) just outside of the area years ago when we lived there. Actually the Radon level in the house we lived in was twice the EPA safe limit we found out during our closing inspection. Glad we moved to East TN where’s it’s safe… oh wait Oak Ridge (Y-12) is just down the road… great…

"I have become death, the destroyer of worlds" Still one of the most memorable quotes in history

@KSparks80

4 жыл бұрын

The quote is actually "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds". (Not trying to be a grammar nazi! lol. I had to write a paper on it many years ago, and I guess it stuck). Simon repeats it at 12:56, & Oppenheimer at 13:00 in the video. Either way, it is a memorable quote. The blast had a pretty deep affect on the guys that built it. Richard Feynman mentioned that some time later he was back in New York City and noticed all of the engineering and construction marvels that were going on there in building bridges, infrastructure, skyscrapers, etc. Things that earlier would have amazed even him. But after being at the Trinity test, it hit him as something like "Why? Why bother with all of this effort? We can destroy it all in a few milliseconds now". That must be some pretty heady stuff spending years, and having great success, on the project you were asked to do. Then shortly after, asking yourself "what have we done?" That's gotta be rough!

@Terri_MacKay

4 жыл бұрын

And one of the most heartbreaking...imagine his horror when he realized what he had helped create.

@holywater8897

4 жыл бұрын

​@@Terri_MacKay When he realized what he had helped create? WTF? I guess during planning and execution of the Mahattan project, he thought the bomb was just going to be a prop for a movie set. His entire quote was a last ditch effort by a man aware of his mortality to rectify his image and legacy.

@richardlinter4111

4 жыл бұрын

@@holywater8897 : Oppenheimer could be confident he would not be blamed if the Uranium half of the project didn't work - Groves later remarked he, not Oppenheimer, would be on the hook if that was a fizzer. The plutonium device was scientifically much more dodgy and needed testing. So yes, it might well have been an expensive throwaway prop.

@richardlinter4111

4 жыл бұрын

@@Terri_MacKay : There was a betting pool going for the Trinity yield: most were way, way below the actual 21kT result, and only Teller had the temerity to bet on a higher yield (45kT in his case). So horror, yes, mixed with a strutting pride, but Oppenheimer's brother Frank said that both had the same reaction in the first instant: simply that "It worked!"

How about the moon landings for a megaproject or even something like the building of the pyramids? An ancient megaproject could be interesting.

@peten2956

4 жыл бұрын

I second both of these ideas

@ISpillSprite

4 жыл бұрын

Definitely hope for these! And for the space shuttle!

@davidhartenstine190

4 жыл бұрын

Everyone know's the Pyramids were built by aliens!

@jordenpenitch1532

4 жыл бұрын

I don’t think the aliens will want to talk about it

@RangerRiccardo

4 жыл бұрын

@@davidhartenstine190 Unfortunately that has yet to be proven, but a very high possibility. There is no possible way we are the only ones out there. Most likely in this system, but not in this galaxy.

I live near Oak Ridge. Born and raised in Tennessee. My grandfather was in the war and then worked with Oak Ridge after. Not as a scientist but a machinist. I guess that’s what sparked my interest in nuclear history, and I began buying geiger counters and collecting radioactive sources when I was about 20. It’s amazing the kind of stuff you can find.

Thank you for maintaining such a balanced and impartial perspective on all the topics you cover. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate not being told how I should think, feel, or believe about things.

@danieldevito6380

11 ай бұрын

Balance? Do you realize that Japanese diplomats were in Washington DC giving out "peace bracelets" while their countrymen were killing 2,403 Americans who had no idea that Japan was declaring war against them? Did you forget that during WW2, Japan was allied with Italy and Germany. Do I have to remind you who the leaders of Italy and Germany were during WW2?

Liberty ships would be a good idea for a video.

@tomast9034

4 жыл бұрын

first ever fully arc welded ships and all the troubles that come with new tech. half of them fell apart sitting empty in the docks...they didnt knew what is going on.

@deadfreightwest5956

4 жыл бұрын

One member of the German high command (Speer?) remarked, upon hearing that we could build a Liberty ship in a week, that they had lost the war. They'd never be able to sink so many ships. I think it was at a Kaiser shipyard that they were able to assemble one in a single day. It was all pre-fab, though. More of a stunt than practical. But Ford's Willow Run bomber plant could produce a bomber every hour, the record being one every 48 minutes. Note: that was a plane ready to fly left the plant at that rate, the individual planes took days to build, but there were so many in production at once.

@rik5095

4 жыл бұрын

The channel ‘mustard’ has a very good video on libertyships!

@joebaker4116

4 жыл бұрын

@@rik5095 Was just thinking that. Love his work!

@flashgordon3715

4 жыл бұрын

@@deadfreightwest5956 And now I'm worried about countries with enough industrial power that can build a fleet of aircraft carriers in the time USA can build a torpedo

Fun fact: when they were setting up the Y-12 plant in Oak Ridge for electromagnetic separation they needed a lot of copper wire for the electromagnets, only to discover that, it being wartime, copper was in very short supply. Until someone realized that, hey, silver works almost as well, and we've got all that bullion lying around.... Which led to the Under Secretary of the Treasury asking a question that has probably never been asked before or since: "Six thousand tons of silver? How much is that in troy ounces?" In the end, 13,300 metric tons of silver was used, worth over a billion dollars in 1940s money. The last of it wasn't returned until 1970; they had been so careful with it that less than one pound had been lost.

@user-hr8pz6lh5w

4 жыл бұрын

Silver works better than copper Though silver wire is roughly 7 percent more conductive than a copper wire of the same length, silver is a significantly rarer metal than copper. ... Silver wire, however, is generally reserved for more sensitive systems and specialty electronics where high conductivity over a small distance is prioritized.

@deamon002

4 жыл бұрын

@@user-hr8pz6lh5w Not on a per-mass basis. Yes, silver is a better conductor (although it's more like 5.7 percent, 15.87 nΩ·m vs. 16.78 nΩ·m), meaning you can make a wire of the same resistance 5.7% longer, which gets you more loops, which means a higher magnetic flux. But silver is also about 17% more dense than copper, so you can make less wire out of one kg of silver. In the case of Y-12 I mentioned, they were substituting silver for copper at a ratio of 11/10.

@user-hr8pz6lh5w

4 жыл бұрын

Even more fun. Is that more time has passed since we went to the moon than the interval between the first commercial airplane flight and the first human space flight.

@UkDave3856

4 жыл бұрын

Top factoid! 👍👍👍

@user-hr8pz6lh5w

4 жыл бұрын

First Commercial flight 47 years, 5 months, 1 week, 6 days before Yuri Gagarin *and* the Apollo 17 mission dec 17 1972 until now.

This subject has always fascinated me. Great video!

If you're ever in Tucson Arizona, it's home to the last of the Titan II missile silos. Worth going to see. A standing testament to "Peace Through Deterrence" and very sobering.

@madhatter4743

10 ай бұрын

This is a sickening statement. This is what is wrong with our country we think violence is the answer

I believe there was an incredibly important side effect of those two bombs that is totally overlooked, even today. If the world had not seen the effects of these two first gen bombs on a city, then nuclear war between America and USSR would have been much more likely.

@slordmo2263

4 жыл бұрын

Yep, think you're correct there. As far as I know, the scientists of the time even petitioned to 'demonstrate' the effects to the Japanese beforehand, which was shotdown. Later after the war, the 1st demo bombs were exploded at Bikini Atol in front of 40thousand ppl....I'm not sure it was 'that' impressive. (My father was a young seaman who witnessed this, wasn't that impressed, actually).... So actually using them on an enemy showed we would 'use the big stick' not just feint with it...

@jericho86

3 жыл бұрын

The threat of nuclear war and its total devastation, quite possibly makes the atomic bomb one of the greatest life saving inventions of the 20th century.

@thomasdemay9805

3 жыл бұрын

@@jericho86 without it there is no doubt USA and USSR would have gone hot at some point

@gorishokgo5825

Жыл бұрын

Ussr just don't get a f'uck about people. Soviets killed over 40 mln people without any war , just concentration camps and starvation. If stalin had a plane or rocket to nuke usa - 1000% guarantee

@tulip2342

Жыл бұрын

...it's not like we didn't know what they did tho it was simply because now the USSR was aware that the us would actually use them

You can visit Trinity on only two days in a year: April 1st and Oct 1st. I visited the site several years ago and was -- excuse the phrasing -- blown away by the history that was present there. Seeing the container that held the bomb was humbling. Last year, I visited Hiroshima and was equally touched. Truly, the Manhattan Project was a massively significant part of not just US history, but in world history.

@WanderingWriter

4 жыл бұрын

why only those two days?

@xXChronoTriggerXx13

4 жыл бұрын

I've been to Hiroshima and it is quite possibly the most humbling place to visit in the World. Going to all the memorials and museums, you really learn how the general Japanese people were just caught totally off guard and the terrible suffering that ensued. The story that sticks with me the most was seeing a picture of a nuclear shadow of someone who was sitting on the bank steps waiting for the bank to open at 8am, but it never did.

@ripwolfe

4 жыл бұрын

@@WanderingWriter It's on an active military base and there's still a lot of (not life-threatening) radiation around. I presume they limit it to ensure both the safety of the site and the visitors alike.

@douglasthomas8484

4 жыл бұрын

@@WanderingWriter I believe it is still an active millitary test range.

@douglasthomas8484

4 жыл бұрын

If you mean the giant steel container (Nicked named "Jumbo") it was supposed to contain the gadget, to contain the plutonium in case a nuclear reaction did not occur. The plutonium was that precious. So it was only designed to contain the chemical explosives. By the time the test occured they were confident enough that it would work they didn't use the container. But it was too thick to cut up easily, so they just left it. Hence why it has survived.

Simon, this is probably one of your best videos ever. It's controversial due to the choices made to build the bomb, and at the same time it had to be a difficult choice to use it. You spoke to both views and I appreciate that as an American. It's sometimes hard to believe that humanity can do what they did in the first 45 years of the last century. I think about an idea that the English astrophysicist Brian Cox said that we have a duty to preserve life as we are the only life in this Galaxy. I, as a veteran, hope we find a better way.

The story of what happened in Oak Ridge, Tennessee is pretty much a modern miracle and definitely deserves its own video. Please!

Handed the global power of destruction to Earth's most advanced species, dolphins. *Douglas Adams has entered the chat*

@cragan1145

4 жыл бұрын

Second-Most. The best-laid plans of Mice and all that...

@megaprojects9649

4 жыл бұрын

;D

@MyMarsham

4 жыл бұрын

C Ragan damn, you beat me to it.

@lilbill6089

4 жыл бұрын

Goodbye and thanks for all the fish!

@alanmoss3603

4 жыл бұрын

"So long and thanks for all the uranium...."

"Dolphins! Not really." Lol that got me.

@megaprojects9649

4 жыл бұрын

:)

This is quite possibly the best video I have ever watched on youtube. Thanks Simon.

In the summer of 1945 my dad had just been released from the Brooklyn Naval Hospital having his face rebuilt after an encounter with a grenade in Italy. He was shipped to San Diego where he boarded a destroyer bound for Tokyo Bay. The mission: Sweep the mines out of the bay in preparation for the Japanese land invasion. Every man on that ship was told it was a suicide mission and they shouldn’t expect to return home. The atomic bombs fell while the ship was in route, and Japan surrendered prior to arrival. My dad lived to get back home and start a new life, and I am literally alive today because of the Manhattan Project and Truman’s decision.

@Killyspudful

Ай бұрын

Wow, another tragedy that we can lay at the feet of Oppenheimer and the others.

Maybe do a video on Roman road/highway system. Truly a masterpiece of engineering.

@tyharris9994

3 жыл бұрын

And the Aqueducts. Many still standing.

@tyharris9994

2 жыл бұрын

@Peace I didnt know that. The Romans took a good idea then and implemented it very well. The North Africans may have conceived it but the Roman Empire was second to none on the scale of their civil engineering projects. I am sure that the tax structure and therefore the money to fund these generational projects was the key to that being possible.

@tyharris9994

2 жыл бұрын

@Peace You don't sound very peaceful Mr. Peace. I am an American and we certainly did nothing to erase your history. Islam is what is holding back North Africa. It's a barbaric political and societal belief system that is incompatible with human rights, personal liberty, secular governance, and modern civil progress. Its the most regressive force on the planet which is why you remain the world's armpit. Good luck with indoor plumbing and feeding your people. You'll need it. If you need us we will be landing on Mars.

I'd recommend that anyone interested reads Richard Rhodes seminal work"The making of the Atomic Bomb". 838 pages of near forensic level investigation on the Manhattan project

@jorgebunge

4 жыл бұрын

Fantastic book. Dan Carlin has a couple of excellent podcasts about the bomb as well. The episodes are called The Destroyer of Worlds and Logical Insanity. Highly recommended.

@deadfreightwest5956

4 жыл бұрын

Great suggestion. Also, I'd like to recommend "Working on the Bomb, An Oral History of WWII Hanford" by S. L. Sanger. Having the recollections of those who worked there is a fascinating insight. The sheer scale of the construction project initially, then the operations of various facilities (as one person said of the reactors, "there was no operating manual") is breathtaking.

The thought of nuclear war doesn't make me lose sleep, but that huge closeup of Robert Oppenheimer just might.

I'm really enjoying these videos, entertaining and informative. Thanks. How about a video about ekranoplans in the future?

I'd like to recommend Bell Rock Lighthouse, the first successful offshore lighthouse. It took four attempts to get right.

@susanmaggiora4800

4 жыл бұрын

Trainfan1055 I once saw a fascinating video on the Irish lighthouse systems from around 1880-1905 (very rough dates here). The engineering & plain muscle power behind them was really impressive.

@ethan7353

4 жыл бұрын

Not exactly mega but still an excellent story. Perhaps a geographics??

@alexkriel3721

3 жыл бұрын

@@ethan7353 I have learned more in all Whistler's comments than anything else thanks... Rabbit...

I love the script's neutrality on the atom bomb and nuclear power

@AA-vs9kh

Жыл бұрын

Definitely

My grandfather worked at Hanford during the war. He worked stoking a coal boiler for winter heat during the winter. During the spring and summer he returned to his farm in Arkansas to put in a crop of corn.

That was such a great video! Absolutely loved it!! 😁

I love this series. Infographics, Geographics, and now Megaprojects....I love these videos! Keep them coming. There is so much to talk about in the world.

@megaprojects9649

4 жыл бұрын

Indeed :). Thank you.

At this point in my youtube life simon has taken over.. ur my first vid of the day and my last vid at night.. just dont tell the missus lol.. the multiple channels are awsome!

@megaprojects9649

4 жыл бұрын

Legend.

@criggie

4 жыл бұрын

KZread is slowly becoming SimonTube

Great video. So glad I found your channel

Do you think you could do a video on the Nevada-Class Battleships as both ships had interesting careers. One of which USS Nevada tried to escape Pearl Harbor, fought at D-Day , Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, and survived 2 atomic bombs. I would say that's a mega ship. Great work on theses videos, love them

Of all your channels, this one is by far the most awesome. I like it 👏

@toastytoast9800

4 жыл бұрын

I like geographics most

@timstiteler4817

4 жыл бұрын

For me it's definitely business blaze but this is a close second. Simon keep up the good work I really appreciate having so much great content.

17:00 you mentioned Japan surrendered on 2nd December 1945? I thought they formally surrendered 2nd September 1945...

@megaprojects9649

4 жыл бұрын

You are 100% correct. My screw up. I will do better.

@dantaylor7344

3 жыл бұрын

August 15th VJ Day

@TomNimitz

3 жыл бұрын

Japan announced the surrender on August 15th, but the signing ceremony that took place on the battleship Missouri was on September 2nd.

The Soviet Dead Hand would be a really cool Megaproject to do. Not a lot of videos are out there about it, pretty wild and interesting dooms day device, love the content man keep it up!

My goodness I keep find new channels that you put on, and they are all relevant and tasteful, I love that it is fact based, you don’t push a point of view, and it’s very entertaining.

Fun fact: After Hanford got under way, a party of British physicists showed up out of the blue and asked to tour the facility. They were turned away. One of them was Klaus Fuchs. It's no wonder that the US was reluctant after the war to share nuclear technology (especially bomb production) with Britain. British academia was so rife with communists and Soviet sympathizers that sharing such info would have the same effect as airmailing all of it to Moscow.

@mmcbey1401

4 жыл бұрын

Don't forget there were also several American spies for the Soviets as well.

@_Abjuranax_

4 жыл бұрын

One of the conditions that the US had, was for Great Britain to share all of their technology, which they gladly did. Churchill even stood up naked and sopping wet from a bath tub at the White House stating " Britain has nothing to hide from the US". So even though US/GB relations were on par with each others goals, that is not not to say that there was some suspicion and intrigue by both parties.

@longfang98

4 жыл бұрын

I have no doubt given US foreign policy since WW II, that if other nations had not acquired nukes that the US would have invaded even more countries in the name of "freedom"

@bbeen40

4 жыл бұрын

@@longfang98 The Marshall plan has left the chat....

@jenniferneasham1531

4 жыл бұрын

Wow, I have lived my entire life in Richland the town created for Hanford workers and I had never heard that story. Back 10 years or so I toured the site and had a close up look at the B reactor. Now it’s part of a National Park with Las Alamos and Oak Ridge. I am so proud to be a Bomber (my mascot in high school was a bomb and a mushroom cloud) for my kids it’s been changed to the bomber plane named Days Pay. Because it was built with funds from all the employees donating one days pay. My grandmother talked about how no one asked what anyone’s dad did for work and 95% had no clue what they were doing, just said yes sir and got to work. Also if you did not work at the actual Hanford site you could not live inside the city of Richland. One of my grandfathers was a bus driver for the schools, he was forced to live in West Richland- across the river from the Army town.

Love this channel... ✨ please do a video on CERN Large Hadron Collider , ITERs Tokamak and Travelling Wave Reactor by TerraPower funded by Bill Gates

@megaprojects9649

4 жыл бұрын

LHC coming very soon.

@bhuvaneshs.k638

4 жыл бұрын

@@megaprojects9649 Travelling Wave Reactor is a very interesting topic. It uses U-238 for fission. So we can skip enriching process. We can even use nuclear waste to produce energy. If once we fill the reactor with fuel, reaction will take 30-40 yrs to complete. It's a promising Technology. Please cover this in Ur channel.

Hi Simon, I am now addicted to all your of your channels. Your videos make up about 90% of all entertainment I consume. Can not get enough. Thanks..

It was either the nuke, or the amphibious assault, Simon. The latter would've been worse. It was a descisive action that ended everything

@robthegardener9631

3 жыл бұрын

I never understood why the Japanese couldn't have been offered some sort of cessation of hostilities agreement as the North Koreans were offered and accepted eight years later.

@pzkpfw2310

3 жыл бұрын

@@robthegardener9631 The Japanese wouldn’t have accepted anything like that. They viewed surrender as the worst possible thing one could do.

@philipwebb960

3 жыл бұрын

@@robthegardener9631 They were.

@anotherjewishsharpnicholas9425

10 ай бұрын

People also ignore that the fire bombing of cities would have been far worse without the use of the nuke, and those caused more damage.

The massive construction necessary to build Y-12, X-10, & K-25 uranium enrichment plants in Oak Ridge, TN was incredible. And that doesn’t included constructing a city for 125,000 - complete with fencing & security stations. I was born in and grew up in this artificial city.

@Michael75579

4 жыл бұрын

There's also the fact that the vast majority of people working there had no idea what they were doing as the process was split into individual steps that could be done without any need for an overview of what was happening in total. I've read one person describing their job there as "I watch this gauge. When it reaches a certain value, I press this button"

@sarahrosen4985

4 жыл бұрын

Dorothy Rosenberg Wow. I would like to hear more. Your next channel, Simon...

Simon, I'd really like to see a Mega Projects episode on the construction of the Roman Aqueducts. Perhaps to include the development of plumbing and water delivery. Water systems in general are fascinating.

Really in depth video. I’ve always had a fascination about WWII as it was astonishing that so many brilliant people were suddenly there at one point in time. If you want to do a really good biography, I suggest you research one Richard Feynman. He was a physicist on the Manhattan project and had an incredible life. Note: He also was known for his participation on the shuttle Challenger committee. Also, as a counterpoint to your excellent video on Curtis Lemay, a good counterpoint would be an exploration of Jimmy Doolittle, an amazing leader who was a bit mischievous from time to time! Keep up the excellent work although in the future I want to talk to you about your video on weapons that are too dangerous! Ta!

Little-known fact: Klaus had a younger brother who was also a physicist. However, he stayed at home because when it came to the UK, Germany could not give two Fuchs. Thanks, I'll be here all week.

@fredyellowsnow7492

Жыл бұрын

Did he Fuchs off to the Antarctic?

Sir James Chadwick, CH, FRS (20 October 1891 - 24 July 1974) was a British physicist who was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron in 1932. In 1941, he wrote the final draft of the MAUD Report, which inspired the U.S. government to begin serious atom bomb research efforts. He was the head of the British team that worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II. He was knighted in Britain in 1945 for his achievements in physics.

What about doing one on that seed vault they have buried under the permafrost in Norway?

@megaprojects9649

4 жыл бұрын

Will check it out. Svaldbard I think is the name. Will do some prelim research :)

@reamick

3 жыл бұрын

@@megaprojects9649 Yeah, Svalbard is the name of the island it's on, well north of the Arctic Circle.

@silentdeath7847

3 жыл бұрын

Would be nice to see a video about the Svalbard seed vault, I belive north korea is the only country to whitdraw seeds from it.

@taranpreetkaur8303

3 жыл бұрын

@@silentdeath7847 the seeds have been drawn from svalbard seed vault when the gene bank in Aleppo Syria was destroyed due to bombings

OMG YES, Ive been expecting this! 🔥 You sir deserve a medal 👌

"Now it can be told: The story of the Manhattan project" by General Leslie Groves is a fascinating read. It details the whole project from the point of the commanding general of the project and is more than worth the read.

''We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, ''Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.'' Words that then, as now, shall haunt humanity throughout history.

@susanmaggiora4800

4 жыл бұрын

Millennial Chicken I can’t imagine what went through their heads when they 1st saw the explosion. I’m sure at least a few of them thought that, perhaps in hindsight, it wasn’t the wisest of things to do.

@littlewol2620

4 жыл бұрын

@@susanmaggiora4800 no. scientists this curious are happy it works, and eager to "push the line" a bit further. some do think of moral implications, but i think propaganda and money takes over...furthermore, the push to use this technology as a weapon, NOT as a safe and useful purpose, like efficient, farly safe and low cost power, says it all....

@susanmaggiora4800

4 жыл бұрын

Little Wol Well,Oppenheimer certainly didn’t feel that way. I imagine 2 others gelt similarly, since I only said a FEW. And if you think nuclear power is ‘fairly’ safe, perhaps we could store the spent rods in your backyard?

@bimblinghill

4 жыл бұрын

@@susanmaggiora4800 Richard Feynman (who was a fairly junior scientist at the time) wrote about it in 'Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman?'. Seeing the test he was basically just pleased their project had worked, but after the bombings he became haunted by it, for some years beliving a global nuclear war to be inevitable.

@puncheex2

4 жыл бұрын

Well, if you mean "Words that then, in 1957..." In 1945, his brother Frank, also a physicist, said that they looked at each other and both said, "It worked!!" Oppenheimer was pretty sanguine about the bomb until Teller began pushing his Super so hard. By 1957 Robert had lost his security clearance and most of his influence in government circles. It stands to reason he was pretty depressed.

Old McDonald had a farm...and the US Military blew it the F*** up!!

@coreytaylor447

4 жыл бұрын

ei ei oh

@jur4x

4 жыл бұрын

Loui's father: Old Mc'Donald had a farm! Till government confiscated it :)

@RangerRiccardo

4 жыл бұрын

@@coreytaylor447 I love that you added that 😆

@TheWhiteTrashPanda

4 жыл бұрын

That's the most metal thing I've heard all week

@RangerRiccardo

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheWhiteTrashPanda so fucking metal!

I actually follow most of your channels, love your work!

Great video as always. Here's a suggestions... the Berkut oil drilling platform (largest), Freedom Ship (planned not built), and Knock Nevis (longest oil tanker and movable man-made object).

Speaking of historical impact, how far back do you want to go? I am thinking The Pyramids? Or the Roman road system?

@patricktho6546

4 жыл бұрын

The Pyramids don't have that much historical impact

@joheyjonsson2825

4 жыл бұрын

I'm thinking the Republic of Venice.

@frankfedison5203

4 жыл бұрын

I'd like to see Hagia Sophia featured.

@servant74

4 жыл бұрын

Wheel?

@patricktho6546

4 жыл бұрын

@Atheos B. Sapien But they didn't have the historical influence like the ending of a world war

I always find Simon’s videos highly informative , detailed and well researched, with a tinge of good old British humour too. Keep it up SW!

great video! really enjoyed

Great video!! You should do a video about the first transatlantic telegraph cable. I don't remember many details of it, but it officially connected the US to Europe by telegraph.

We saw a film about Oppenheimer at school (back in the 60s). When he quoted the bhagavad gita (I have become death...) it made me cry and I have never forgotten it.

@buckhorncortez

3 жыл бұрын

Well...then you might like to know that In late 1940 or early 1941, Oppenheimer bought a new Cadillac which he and his wife nicknamed, “Bombsight.” Oppenheimer didn't believe the first reports of fission. However, once an experiment was performed at the Radiation Laboratory that showed fission, it took him less than 15 minutes to figure out where his original hypothesis and calculations for fission not working were wrong. A day later, Phillip Morrison (then a graduate student) walked in to Oppenheimer's office and found a crude drawing of an atomic bomb on his blackboard. Yep...Oppenheimer was all about philosophical musings about the bomb...

So long! And thanks for all the fish!

you make learnin fun, thank you!

Good on you Simon for another job well done. All of your channels are extremely interesting and chock- full of great content. Seriously though, how many channels do you have? I'm subscribed to like 4, maybe 5.

Asking Simon Whistler for directions on the street - “First you need to go 300 yards (274 metres) south, then turn 90 degrees left, until you see a sign 3feet (91.4 cm) high...”

@wilyriley_

2 жыл бұрын

and the temperature is 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) right now.

Who's here after watching Oppenheimer ✌

@gaamesso8002

18 күн бұрын

Don’t know, not me.

Nagasaki was a major military town. It also had a ship yard in the southwest part of the city for building military ships. There was also the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works. Shimoshima Island just south of Nahasaki was a major storage depot and embarkation point for troop ships. It was a major target

You should cover the former Secretary of State, Henry L. Stimson on your Biographics channel. The story of his argument against the use of the nuclear weapons on Japan should not be forgotten.. the part about him striking Kyoto from the list still tugs at my heart strings.

We sent a short note: we have harnessed the power of the sun! Surrender unconditionally or your ability to make war will cease for eternity!

@CaymanIslandsCatWalks

4 жыл бұрын

Could have been an even shorter video. World War II. End of World War II. Well in Europe, Japan kept going. America made a big atom bomb with others

@revolutionarymarxist-lenin7252

4 жыл бұрын

even the creator was terrified of the sheer power the bombs could do.

@Drummin003

3 жыл бұрын

Luckily Hirohito's advisor and Generals helped to convince him to surrender. He was still under the assumption, for some stupid reason, that they would fight to the death and the populace would've listened. We probably wouldn't have gone straight to a decapitation strike in Round 2, but if a couple more bombs on military complexes/ports didn't convince them, Tokyo probably wouldn't have survived Round 3. Hell if we had dropped 2 or 3 more bombs on Japan, the death count (direct and indirect) would've been pushing 500,000 at least.

@QqJcrsStbt

3 жыл бұрын

@@Drummin003 I think the US was running out of cities to flatten at this stage. Logic and intelligence indicated more bombs would be needed. If your enemy has sworn to fight to the last woman and child then you want to eliminate all of them in a timely and efficient manner. Okinawa involved hundreds of thousands of dead, an invasion of the home islands was expected to be many times more deadly.

Glad you didn't use midrolls again. I do enjoy watching the presentations you produce on this channel. That said, I wish you'd focused more on the suffering of the survivors, as that is really the only thing that I could imagine would make more people realize the true horror of these weapons when suggesting we use them in the present.

@Alex20114

Жыл бұрын

The images are out there if one has the will to look them up. Yes, I agree, it was truly horrifying regardless of the debate about the usage of the weapon itself.

@MICHAEL-ys3pu

Жыл бұрын

The people that would use this type of weapons don’t care about suffering, to them it’s win or die trying. It’s that simple.

@cornellkirk8946

Жыл бұрын

@@MICHAEL-ys3pu isn’t that applicable to war in general? 🤔🤦‍♂️

The war has not gone in our favour. Love your video's Simon.

Although St. Louis is most known for the gateway arch and perhaps the Cardinals, the most famous mega project in the city is the 19th century Eads Bridge, the first bridge across the Mississippi anywhere, the first bridge to be built mostly of steel, of such high quality Andrew Carnegie grumbled loudly, and one of the first to use caissons to build the underwater piers. It continues to carry rail, vehicular, and foot traffic to this day, and has outlasted several newer bridges. Oh, and the chief engineer was a riverboat pilot.

17:02, Japan surrendered on September 2nd 1945 not December 2nd. The Japanese emperor announced the surrender on August 15th but it was signed on September 2nd.

@megaprojects9649

4 жыл бұрын

Apologies, my screw up. It was right in the script, and I read it wrong... Like an idiot.

I've been to Hiroshima 11 years ago. It is really weird, I visited many other cities in Japan, but Hiroshima is very different. Most houses are grey. Everything is weirdly uniform, compared to other cities. Not all houses are the same, no, but they feel the same in a way. The most beautiful part of the city is the peace park. It's a small island in a river. There is a T-shaped bridge that leads over the river and to the island. It's tha AO-Bridge and it was the aim of the bomb, a T in a river is as good as a cross on a map. But the bridge didn't crumble under the blast, only in 1984 (could be of by 1 or 2 years) the bridge had to be renewed, before it still worked fine. On the side towards the city centre you find the A-Dome, a world heritage. It was a merchant hall, but back in the 40ies one of the only stone buildings in the area. All the houses were wooden, they were gone in the blast. The A-Dome lost it's roof, but the building still stands. You are not allowed to go too close, but you can see, how the structure of the stone changed. When you go over the bridge to the island, you find the peace bell and many different memorials. The one for all the children, who died thanks to the bomb and thanks to the radiation after. There are glass cases with thousands, maybe millions of cranes, send from primary schools and kindergarten from all over Japan. You find cranes on strings at many of the memorials. There is one in the middle, that looks like a huge hill, under it are the ashes of the people...a mass grave. And something, which was a bit creepy. When I visited, there were a group of young children with their teacher. when they walked over the bridge, they were like you expect kids to be, chatty, laughing. But when they reached the park, they all became quiet. After I left the park, I did check out some stores and had some food, but then head back to my friend's place. I could have stayed longer, but I didn't want to stay longer in this city. I am glad, I went, if you are in Japan and have the time, you should go and see the result of the atomic bomb yourself.

@BeardedNerdSE

3 жыл бұрын

I went to Hiroshima a year ago and it was pretty much as you described. However, I thought it was a vibrant, beautiful city and found some of the best food on my trip there. Also, Miyajima which is nearby is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I loved the place and want to go back some day.

I love how describes these project with fancy word. As a foreigner this channel helps my english and i enjoy history

My Dad worked in a steel mill where parts of the project was done. He was on the crew that buried a chunk of plutonium under a mill. It’s now one of the many superfund sites spread over the region. (A superfund site is a highly toxic chemical polluted area that will cost millions to clear up)

Would love to see a video about dreadnoughts or battleships. Maybe the Bismark or Iowa class.

This was the one I was waiting for.

@megaprojects9649

4 жыл бұрын

I hope you enjoyed it.

@Scorpious187

4 жыл бұрын

@@megaprojects9649 I haven't gotten to watch yet!! I was sitting down to watch it and ended up getting pulled away! I'm going to watch it now. lol.

My Uncle has a sort of connection to this and the story I am to tell you will explain what I mean. Years ago when I was a kid, I wanted to stay with my Uncle Paul. My Uncle's full name was Paul Abner Dunkel and he was a veteran of WW2, you see he told me this story when we were watching something on TV I think he needed to say it. You see he was coming back home from the European theater on a troopship when over the loudspeaker came the announcement that the US has bombed Japan and Japan has surrendered the war was over, and he along with everyone else cheered. Sometime later he had gone to the movies and he was watching the newsreels where they showed after the bombings and this is what he said, "I wish I never would have cheered." That was the first time I think I ever saw him cry. He did not talk much about the war and when he did though it was like he was reliving it. I was lucky to have had the opportunity to have the few stories I got. WW2 was not a set of facts in a history book or text book, it was real and was named Us Army Corporal Paul A. Dunkel.

A video on the Grand Coulee Dam and the whole Columbia Basin Project would be really cool!

2 notes: 1. The idea that Robert Oppenheimer said "now I have become death the destroyer of worlds" came from himself years after the war. There are actually very detailed notes of how he reacted after the bomb went off including from Robert Oppenheimer's brother Frank. His brother Franks said that after that after the bomb went off the 2 brothers hugged and and Robert kept repeating happily "It worked! It worked!". 2. I don't know how something that saved hundreds of thousands to millions of lives can at all be consider "terrible". It is another post war thought that Japan was about to surrender prior to the 2 nuclear bombings of Japan. Yes, there were people in Japan even at the highest levels of government who wanted to surrender. But there was just as much if not far far more who wanted to continue the war. This is evidence by even after the 2nd bombing only half of the top Japanese government wanted to surrender and only the Emperor was able to break the tie. And then even after that the officers of Japan's military were so unwilling to surrender that they tried to launch a coup on the Japanese government to prevent the surrender that failed. People now also like to bring up the invasion of Manchuria as what made Japan surrender which is also false. Japan already knew no matter what that Manchuria and it's colonies were a loss. Japan's hope in continuing the war was to cause as many casualties as possible to get a negotiated peace in order to safe face which nobody in the Japanese government expected would include them keeping any of their colonies. In fact in the months prior to the Japanese surrender they had been trying everything possible to bring their troops from China, Manchuria and Korea back to Japan to defend the home land against the invasion by the Western allies that they knew was near. The final straw that convinced the Japanese government to agree to surrender (for those that did agree) according to them after the war was that America with the new nuclear bomb had the ability to wipe the Japanese population off the face of the Earth without even having to invade the island. And the only thing keeping the Japanese from surrendering earlier was the fact that they thought if the Western allies had to invade Japan they could cause so many casualties that they could get the Western allies to allow Japan to have a negotiated surrender.

@perniciouspete4986

Жыл бұрын

The Russian invasion of Japanese territory had something to do with the surrender as well.

3:17 'Everyone realized nazis having nukes is a bad idea.' Best Quote.

Your joke about stalin getting the note on his desk was very funny also im a huge fan of the channel keep up the good work sir

Honestly this is already one of my favorite KZread channels now

@megaprojects9649

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you. Glad you like it :)

If it wasn't Oppenhiemer, it would have been someone else.

I have stayed on the island of Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands my whole life, The island was used to assemble the two atom bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on the northern part of the island of Tinian you could still drive on the runways that were used during the war the runway that Enola gay departed from , many history sites still remain. I really hope you all get to see it.

Of the many unusual aspects of the Manhattan Project, one of them is that a great number of the academic and engineering staff working on the project had received portions of their education in Germany. Also, the Enola Gay was on display at Chanute AFB for many years after WW2. Many questioned if it was the Enola Gay, or if the name had been painted on in homage, so Chanute AFB had the aircraft checked out and it was found, by my Dad, that the air frame serial number, and a few other serial numbers, matched they of the Enola Gay. My Dad was an instructor at Chanute and one of the incredible things of that base was that to maintain the displayed aircraft in near perfect condition many of them were used for basic education classes.

Lol at the 1:15 mark I was reminded of the "so long and thanks for all the fish" scene from the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

Really appreciate him using the empirical and the metric system so everyone can have a good understanding of ever🥰

@MLaak86

9 ай бұрын

Not sure the human mind is capable of comprehending the sheer destructive power of this weapon

You should do a bio on Tsutomu Yamaguchi. The guy that survived both atomic bombs.

"So long and thanks for all the fish." Keep up the good work. 😀

The world was changed forever by the Manhattan Project. Excellent presentation! P.S. I'm diggin' the black globe on the bookshelf.....

One of the least known WWII mega projects was proximity fuses for artillery and anti aircraft shells. They did not have transistors, but figured out how to put a tube into something that was going to be fired out of a cannon. Apparently this project was the same level of secrecy as the manhattan project.... which gives an idea of how important it was considered to be.

Please do the concept of the transcontinental railroad/ the bering strait bridge

Outstanding episode! How about continuing with the reconstruction of Japan?

Awesome job. My grandpa saw the blast from his Ranch near Alamogordo NM. I work for the company that is cleaning up the waste that was generated.

My grandfather was stationed in Calcutta and his name was on the very long list of soldiers who would be flown to Japan in gliders to fight a ground war if necessary. It is extremely likely that I'm alive because Japan was nuked and the ground war never happened.

@gorishokgo5825

Жыл бұрын

No mercy to the enemy, or you will be dead . Nukes is the triumph of weaponry

@darylb5564

Жыл бұрын

My grandfather was in the Philippines. I remember him telling me when I was young that it was very likely that he wouldn’t have made it to the end of the war.

@andyharrison7061

Жыл бұрын

I’m grateful that you are here, and that your grandfather was not required to fight a horrendous ground war in Japan, and also, I wonder how many Japanese people there might have been today that could say something similar had The Bomb not been dropped on civilian populations.

@darylb5564

Жыл бұрын

@@andyharrison7061 without question there would have been far fewer…

@XTrueXAlucardX

Жыл бұрын

My great grandfather was a prisoner of war on the river Kwai. Without sounding horrible, if the bomb wasn’t dropped, so many more pain and suffering would have continued…

Why do historians always leave out the part where the US dropped pamphlets warning of the incoming bomb to hopefully evacuate civilians (it didn't work). Also to my understanding the battle of Okinawa was a preview of how bloody a mainland invasion would be and influenced the decision to drop the nukes. As someone who lived in Okinawa for many years, I have found human remains and unexploded ordinance as it is a regular insurance there still to this day.

@sparkybolt2085

4 жыл бұрын

The estimated civilian casualties in a land invasion of Japan were in the millions. On the US side, hundreds of thousands at least. I do not envy the position President Truman was in.

@jorgebunge

4 жыл бұрын

The official story is that Truman dropped the bomb to save american soldiers lives, and there is for sure some truth in that statement. What usually is not mentioned is that the US wanted to show to dear Josef that they had the bomb, that they were not afraid of using it and that they had more than one...just in case their friend Joe was thinking about doing something stupid in Europe. There are two fantastic podcasts from Dan Carlin about the bomb. One called The Destroyer of Worlds and the other called Logical Insanity. Highly recommended.

@deadfreightwest5956

4 жыл бұрын

@@sparkybolt2085 - And consider that only after he was sworn into the Presidency after FDR's death did Truman learn of the project. Stalin probably knew about it before he did. But at least he lived up to his motto, "The Buck Stops Here."

@jonwatson654

4 жыл бұрын

@@sparkybolt2085 I've read that the Japanese military estimated 20 to 30 million civilian deaths from a US land invasion. They would have fought to the end, even after the atomic bombs had Hirohito not ordered the surrender. Quite a chilling thought.

@holywater8897

4 жыл бұрын

So let me get your point. They dropped pamphlets warning people of a bomb that had never been used before in human history, and of which they had no way to reference the level of devastation? I wonder why it did not work.

i like how comfortable youve become over the years from shaved simon to manbeard youve became a very important part of my life lol. great work everyone on your team

@megaprojects9649

4 жыл бұрын

Manbeard Simon. I like it.

This video being Recommended to me on July 16 2023 is wild af. (Trinity Test was conducted on July 16 1945)