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Comment by fusslo | Hacker News Reader

I cant remember which, but a documentary about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki said that after the first bomb, Japanese scientists were deployed to confirm or deny the US's claim of an atomic weapon.

If I remember right, the Japanese scientists confirmed signs of an atomic explosion, but the leaders were stuck in a debate as to whether or not to accept the findings

Maybe someone better educated can correct me if I didn't get that history quite right

Edit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshio_Nishina#Atomic_bomb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunsaku_Arakatsu (check out his academic advisor!)

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The leaders knew immediately that it was an atomic bomb.

Books:

Code-Name Downfall by Allen

Downfall by Frank

The surrender was due to their fear that the US had a third bomb and would drop it on Tokyo.

They rebuilt Tokyo that fast already ?

  The strikes conducted by the USAAF on the night of 9–10 March 1945, codenamed Operation Meetinghouse, constitute the single deadliest and most destructive aerial bombing raid in human history. Sixteen square miles (41 km2; 10,000 acres) of central Tokyo was destroyed, leaving an estimated 100,000 civilians dead and over one million homeless.

~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo

Perhaps that "third bomb on Tokyo" fear was a bit made up and ahistoric.

All the people dying from side effects of radiation wasn’t enough proof that an atomic weapon was used?

Well the effects of radiation were still poorly understood, but also there wasn't that much radioactive material left over in any concentration. And the gamma ray blast would appear superficially like normal burns from being near a firebomb until atleast a few days later.

Contrary to Fallout lore, most nuclear bombs dont leave much concentrated radioactive material unless it was done on purpose. You either need a shittier and smaller explosion with the same material, or you need a ground burst which reduces the effective blast area.

The US was on ground zero in under 2 weeks in Japan and couldn't detect anything over the background in radioactive isotopes.

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