Trinity was the code name of the first detonation of a nuclear device. The detonation occurred on 16 July 1945 at 11:29:21 UTC. According to Toby Ord, Trinity marks the beginning of “The Precipice”, a period of heightened existential risk which humanity must navigate safely to realize its long-term potential.[1]
Further reading
Else, Jon (1981) The day after Trinity, KTEH.
Ord, Toby (2020) The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity, London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Related entries
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists | existential risk | existential security | Manhattan Project | nuclear warfare | Russell–Einstein Manifesto
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Ord, Toby (2020) The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, ch. 4. Other authors have also proposed the Trinity test as marking the beginning of a new epoch. Thus, Jan Zalasiewicz and colleagues “suggest that the Anthropocene (formal or informal) be defined to begin historically at the moment of detonation of the Trinity A-bomb at Alamogordo, New Mexico, at 05:29:21 Mountain War Time (± 2 s) July 16, 1945 (= 11:29:21 Co-ordinated Universal Time = Greenwich Mean Time).” (Zalasiewicz, Jan et al. (2015) When did the Anthropocene begin? A mid-twentieth century boundary level is stratigraphically optimal, Quaternary International, vol. 383, pp. 196–203.)