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Fat Man was an atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945, leading to Japan’s surrender and the end of WWII. The bomb was named after its shape or Winston Churchill. It killed 45,000 people instantly and caused long-term health problems for survivors.
Fat Man was an atomic bomb made in the United States and dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Six days later, Japan surrendered to the United States, effectively ending World War II. The use of atomic weapons in WWII continues to be a controversial topic, with some people arguing that the deployment of such weapons was necessary, while others believe it violated the rules of common decency. Whatever one’s feelings about using atomic weapons to end war, they certainly have reshaped human history.
The nuclear explosion generated by Fat Man was only the third man-made nuclear explosion in history and the second use of a nuclear weapon in warfare, preceded by the bombing of Hiroshima three days earlier. The bomb released the equivalent of 21 kilotons of TNT, a paltry amount when compared to modern nuclear weapons, but it managed to be quite devastating.
The origins of the name “Fat Man” have been debated. The makers of the bomb have suggested that he was named for his distinctive squat shape, which somewhat resembled a fat man sitting in an armchair. Others said he was named for British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, one of the most important big men involved in World War II. Whatever the origins of the name, it was originally intended simply as a code name so that people could discuss the bomb in secret.
The bomb was deployed from a B-29 bomber known as a Bockscar from 1,800 feet (550 meters) above the city. Fat Man was an implosive-type device, meaning that the nuclear reaction was generated by a shaped charge that exploded inward, compressing the bomb’s plutonium core to create a nuclear explosion. The design was quite innovative and some people weren’t even sure Fat Man would work once deployed in action.
These fears proved unfounded; within seconds, Fat Man exploded, killing an estimated 45,000 people in the city instantly and claiming the lives of thousands more over the following weeks from injuries sustained as a result of the blast and fires that ravaged Nagasaki. Within a year, the death toll had risen to 80,000 people. In the decades since, bomb survivors, known as Hibakusha or “bomb-affected people,” have also experienced a variety of health problems from radiation exposure, ranging from fertility problems to a high incidence of cancer .
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