The discovery of atomic power and the atom split by Rutherford led to the atom bomb. Many people, mainly scientists and politicians, were ecstatic about these discoveries and the knowledge that came with them. This picture represents what I feel is the biggest part of the discovery of atomic power: knowledge.
The knowledge that came with the power of atomic power was a big part of the early 20th century. The Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty was a result of this knowledge. The Heisenberg Principle states that it is impossible to predict the behavior of an electron because they are constantly moving, and therefore it's exact location cannot be pinpointed at any one time.
Because much of this knowledge is at such a high level, the average citizen could not understand much of it. Because it was so difficult to understand, most citizens were afraid of this "new physics". They had no idea exactly what science was capable of after this, and frankly, they were terrified. But it was not only the citizens that were terrified. It was also the scientists who discovered atomic power and who created the atomic bomb.
The scientists themselves were afraid of what they had created, and many had reservations about putting this power into practice as a bomb. But many felt that the benefits atomic power provided were too great to abandon the quest for more knowledge altogether. So the research continued, and the atomic bomb was eventually constructed and used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
What drew me to this picture is that what I feel is the scariest thing about the atomic bomb is the knowledge that came with it. Nobody had ever dreamed that human kind would be capable of such power and destruction, and now that they are, what will we devise next? The power of the human mind is unbelievable, and what we can do with it when it is put to use is both frightening and awesome, much like the thought of what power the atom could provide in the early 20th century.
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