The horrors of nuclear war will be confronted at a series of events at the University of Portsmouth and Southsea Library on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (15-17 July).
Among the speakers will be Tom Unterrainer, chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, founded in 1957, and Director of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, who will discuss the current situation and the role we can all play in imagining a better, less-terrifying, future.
The event is to mark the anniversary of the famous ‘Trinity’ test of the world’s very first nuclear weapon by the United States army 80 years ago on July 16, 1945. The tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki followed less than a month later, where hundreds of thousands were killed in
August 1945 and the years to follow.
The events begin at 7pm on Tuesday evening at Southsea Library, Palmerston Road, with a night of music, spoken word and performances. Wednesday and Thursday’s talks will be at the University of Portsmouth’s White Swan Building. Registration is essential and free tickets can be booked via the link below.
It was said that the Atom Bombs ended World War II, but their legacy was an age of fear, paranoia and uncertainty. Since then, the world has been on a knife-edge and discussions of nuclear destruction now pervade global politics and popular culture.
In January 2025, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set its ‘Doomsday Clock’ (that is, its measure of a nuclear instigated catastrophe) to 89 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever come, since its inception in 1947, to the presumed end of the world as we know it.
The upcoming events feature world authorities in Japanese Studies, History, Politics, Film, Television, Art, Architecture, Creative Writing and Drama, with speakers joining from universities and institutions across the UK and internationally. They will revisit the history of nuclear
warfare and reflect on the parlous state of international relations.
Topics under discussion include the long shadow of the notorious ‘Mushroom Cloud’, as political and cultural icon, anti-nuclear activism, the destructive nuclear tests that have led to human and environmental catastrophe, political debates, visual representations and the impact of
current conflicts that have brought us to the brink.
The Trinity Test 80 Years On events are organised by the University of Portsmouth Heritage Hub and run from 15-17 July.
Photo ‘The Trinity shot, the first nuclear test explosion’ by Jack W. Aeby. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
