John Preskill

It is an atomic bomb.

It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe.

And this tremendous flash, so bright, and I see this purple splotch on the floor of the truck.

And I says, that ain't it.

That's an afterimage.

So I turn back up, and I see this white light changing into yellow and into orange.

The clouds form, and then they disappear again.

And then finally, a big ball of orange has started to rise.

and billow a little bit and get a little bit black around the edges.

And then you see it's a big ball of smoke with flashes on the inside of the fire going out, the heat.

And all this took about one minute.

Finally, after about a minute and a half, suddenly there's a tremendous noise.

Bang!

And then rumbles like thunder.

And that's what convinced me.

Nobody had said a word during this whole minute.

We were all just watching quietly.

But this sound released everybody because the solidity of the sound at that distance meant that it really worked.

The man who was standing next to me said, what's that?

I said, that was the bomb.