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Dinosaurs of the Atomic Age!

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


July 16, 1945 marks the beginning of the Atomic Age, as the first Atomic Bomb was successfully detonated during the "Trinity" test in the desert of New Mexico. This event had an enormous impact on human history and influenced also the pop-culture of dinosaurs .

"The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" is considered the first movie to introduce the atomic bomb as possibility to create monsters and a new kind of dinosaurs. The movie was produced by the small independent company "Mutual Pictures", Warner Brothers recognized the potential and released it in 1953, 8 years after the first U.S. atomic bomb and 4 years after the first Soviet nuclear test, just at the beginning of the arm race between the two superpowers.

In the movie during "Operation Experiment" (!) an atomic bomb is detonated in the atmosphere over the Arctic (the producers used real footage, a common trick to save costs, but maybe also to emphasize the "veracity" of the story). This movie also introduces the classic scientists and their pseudoscientific techno-babble, an element that will become standard in later movies. The radiation of the nuclear explosions melts an iceberg and releases the "Rhedosaurus" - an evil, unstoppable and indestructible dinosaur-creature, the first of a long series of later Atomic Age dinosaurs (most notable "Godzilla" 1954), created by the misuse of mankind of radioactive radiation and contamination of harmless organisms.


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Strangely in the movie it is a nuclear scientist that will solve the troubles with the "Rhedosaurus" discovering a possibility to kill it, using a strange radioactive isotope. This element displays the contradictory relationship of society to the atomic technology already in the first years of the Atomic Age: The (mis-)use of science & technology creates problems, but also helps to solve them. However this positive message of "20,000 Fathoms" will go lost in subsequent movies, when the monsters created by science will only cause destruction and suffering.

Bibliography:

EVANS, J.A. (1998): Celluloid Mushroom Clouds - Hollywood and the Atomic Bomb. Critical Studies in Communication and in the Cultural Industries; Westview Press: 212

*This image is the cover of a videotape, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, etc. and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the video or the studio which produced the video in question. It is believed that the use of low-resolution images of video covers qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law.

My name is David Bressan and I'm a freelance geologist working mainly in the Austroalpine crystalline rocks and the South Alpine Palaeozoic and Mesozoic cover-sediments in the Eastern Alps. I graduated with a project on Rock Glaciers dynamics and hydrology, this phase left a special interest for quaternary deposits and modern glacial environments. During my research on glaciers, studying old maps, photography and reports on the former extent of these features, I became interested in history, especially the development of geomorphologic and geological concepts by naturalists and geologists. Living in one of the key area for the history of geology, I combine field trips with the historic research done in these regions, accompanied by historic maps and depictions. I discuss broadly also general geological concepts, especially in glaciology, seismology, volcanology, palaeontology and the relationship of society and geology.

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