in the middle of the desert on the morning of July 16, America detonated the world's first atomic bomb. The explosion vaporized the steel tower, sent a massive shockwave across the desert sand ...

Photo: Atomic bomb test explosion in Alamagordo, New Mexico, July 16, 1945. AP/Wide World Photos In 1932, James Chadwick discovered the neutron, a small atomic particle with mass but no charge.

Photo: Corbis via Getty Images Background: On July 16, 1945, in the New Mexico desert, the U.S. Army detonated an atomic bomb ...