7 ms·

Only two were actually used to kill people. Most of the rest were preparations for it.

• iaw 12y ago
  Other way around. We had the Trinity test, Hiroshima & Nagasaki, and then we set off the rest. Unless you meant "preparations" for killing more people with our nuclear weapons, in which case you may be correct.
  • logicallee 12y ago
    (It's completely obvious that's what he meant.)
    • iaw 12y ago
      The latter tests arguably weren't performed to improve the killing capabilities of the bombs but rather to understand the physics and physiological impacts of bomb blasts. Given that it's possible (albeit unlikely) we never see a nuclear weapon used in war again I don't see it as being completely obvious.
    • Confusion 12y ago
      It's completely obvious that it's not completely obvious, as someone honestly misunderstood.
• Houshalter 12y ago
  Arguably most of the nuclear tests were done to prevent war. Each side wanted to show the other they could match and one-up them in nuclear tech. Neither really wanted to ever actually use them to kill people.
  • yardie 12y ago
    Plenty of people on both sides really wanted to use them. Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kissinger, being one of them. Fortunately, cooler heads held the launch codes and we all prevailed.
    • gdy 12y ago
      Is this what you are referring to? http://archive.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/16-03/ff_nuclearwar?currentPage=all http://archive.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/16-03/ff...
      • yardie 12y ago
        This and a few others. Going through the wired archives you'll find many examples of nuclear false alarms and brinkmanship where the only thing stopping annihilation is an officer ignoring or delaying the order to launch [1][2]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov
    • arethuza 12y ago
      I think a lot of people on both sides were prepared to use them. Fortunately only a very small number of people wanted to use them and were in any position to actually do so.
      • yardie 12y ago
        Pres. Nixon wanted to use them. And you can't get much more capable than the CIC. Luckily, his advisers talked him out of it.
        • arethuza 12y ago
          I thought Nixon just wanted to appear mad enough to use nuclear weapons rather than actually being that daft... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_theory