Trinity Test. Jornada del Muerto, New Mexico, U.S.
Photographer: Berlyn Brixner.

Milliseconds after a blinding flash of light had announced the birth of the atom bomb at 5:29 a.m. on the 16th of July 1945. One out of 52 cameras filming the historic event with varying running speed and from varying angles and distances had captured this image of a 200 meter high fiery bubble, against the backdrop of a still dark sky.

While some 10,000 feet away, inside a forward observation shelter, an anxious Berlyn Brixner had gazed upon the phenomenal sight. Worried the ball of fire would expand beyond the frame of his optical devices, and ruin the crucial documentation of the world’s first atomic explosion.

The first photographer to capture an atomic explosion.

Credited to be the first photographer to film the first atomic explosion in the world. As well as ushering in the genre of high-speed atomic photography with an array of innovations in the field. Brixner’s role in documenting the event was as revolutionary as the atom bomb itself. That a cohort of eminent scientists had laboured for almost three years to produce with no prior experience or data to guide or help them predict the outcome.

A native of El Paso Texas and an amateur photographer with an enthusiasm for documenting assigned subjects. Brixner, then 34 years of age, had been invited to join the Manhattan Project by his childhood friend David Hawkins. Who was the chief liaison officer and official historian of the nuclear program.

After driving down the 96 odd miles to the Atomic City of Los Alamos from his workplace in Duke City in New Mexico. He had been interviewed by Julian Ellis Mack, then the operational head of the optical division, and hired on the spot – as head photographer.

Prior to joining the Manhattan project. Brixner had worked as a photogrammetric technician and was already an experienced visual documentarian. He had build-up a portfolio of rare photos. Among which was to be found his documentation of the intense dust storms that had left New Mexico in the grip of a severe drought between the 1930s and 40s.

Filming the test detonation.

Though Brixner is now more remembered for his role in successfully filming the test detonation at Trinity for scientists and U.S. war planners to better gauge the power of an atomic explosion.

His original assignment and the reason for being hired by Julian had been to operate the Mack Streak Camera. A special high-speed optical medium with rotating mirror technology. That Julian had conceptualized to film the lighting fast process of atomic fission. And which at the time of the interview was still in its conceptual stage.

Brixner on arriving at Los Alamos had not only become involved in designing and engineering the conceptual camera. But also in improving existing photography techniques and developing lenses. Later in association with Julian again he had created a new generation of framing cameras. Capable of capturing moving pictures at speeds ranging from 50,000fps to almost 3,00,000 fps.

In the month of July 1945, as the work of building the Trinity Test Site had neared completion, after its beginning in November 1944. And in the eight months period witnessed an enormous effort put in by hundreds of military and civilian workers, working around the clock, in a remote region of the present-day White Sands Missile Base. With equipment, water, food and practically everything else required, transported in by road from Los Alamos

Brixner along with nineteen other members of the optical division had scouted the area around ground zero in the sweltering July heat. Then planted 52 cameras at strategic locations so as to capture the detonation on running film from every imaginable angle and distance.

Types of cameras used.

To film the event, Brixner had utilized almost 8 different makes of optical devices. With each premanufactured to film at different speeds. These he had additionally enforced with shielding and enhanced viewfinders. And configured to be operated from a single control room. Some of the devices had been mounted on top of machine-gun turrets.

On the 16th of July 1945. A few seconds before the gadget had exploded atop a high metal tower. All 52 optical devices had simultaneously begun to film the atomic explosion. That had started and ended within seconds leaving only a towering mushroom cloud for observers to capture on still cameras.

The entire event had been filmed with 8mm, 16mm and 35 mm black and white film. Barring aside a single work in colour which the radiation had solarized and made unusable.

Footage Produced.

The 1,00,000 black and white frames that had later emerged had been cropped from the running footage produced by the 52 motion picture cameras.

These had later been included in a lengthy and highly descriptive scientific report. Brimming with details and calibrations. The filing had taken Julian almost a year to compile and had been submitted after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The report had been declassified and approved for public release in 1993 (see July 16th Nuclear Explosion, Space-Time Relationship).

As a photographer tasked with the documentation of an important scientific project. Brixner had approached his assignment as a professional and less with the sentiments of an artist. The work he had produced on the day had been for study and likewise was stark, bare, factual and completely devoid of aesthetics or creativity.

Years later in an interview with another fellow photographer, Brixner had expressed his view of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, simply ‘as the price of war’. He had also expressed his regret for not being credited enough for filming the first atomic explosion.

The ball of fire.

While the ball of fire in the photo appears to be calm and stationary in this black and white frame. Clipped from the reel of a Mtchell make motion picture camera. In reality, it is a concoction of superheated gas and charged particles. With the clouds caking its bottom rim comprising of boiling earth and smoke.

The ball of fire had formed 0.016 milliseconds after the detonation and expanding rapidly descended to the ground after 0.065 milliseconds. It had remained visible for 2 seconds. Before being enveloped by the dust and smoke cloud that had formed at the bottom. This image had impacted Brixner the most, and persisted in his mind, each time he had recalled the atomic explosion.

After the end of World War II. Brixner, who was also an inventor and engineer. Had helped design a special optical lens for the powerful telescope of the Mariner spacecraft 6 and 7. Send out to survey the planet Mars between 1969-70. He is also known to have submitted some 45 papers on camera engineering and advanced optical technology.

The video below documents the event as it happened in real-time.