The Bomb

By BBC World Service

History

What's The Bomb about?

My grandad worked on the bomb that dropped on Hiroshima. Could another man - Leo Szilard - have stopped it?

4.4

449 ratings

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LAST EPISODE

Bonus: Introducing Rosa Ellis

06.19.2022

"She was not just a spy - she was a spymaster". The family secret of Rosa Ellis, host of season 2 of The Bomb. Emily Strasser takes us behind the scenes of this espionage thriller, as Rosa talks about her ...

The Bomb episodes:

06.19.2022 Bonus: Introducing Rosa Ellis "She was not just a spy - she was a spymaster". The family secret of Rosa Ellis, host of season 2 of The Bomb. Emily Strasser takes us behind the scenes of this espionage thriller, as Rosa talks about her ...
06.12.2022 Introducing The Bomb season 2 The spy who changed history. And a great-aunt's double life. The Bomb is returning with season 2. Klaus Fuchs was a brilliant scientist, but he was also a dangerous spy, stealing atomic secrets and handing them over to the Soviet ...
09.11.2020 7 The doomsday clock The world’s first nuclear bomb drops on the unsuspecting city of Hiroshima. On 7 August 1945, the world is changed forever. In this final episode, featuring first-hand accounts of the attack that day, Emily Strasser asks how the bomb changed ...
09.04.2020 6 The first atomic bomb Time is running out. As Manhattan Project scientists test the world’s first nuclear bomb, Leo Szilard knows it’s the last chance to stop the US government from dropping the bomb on Japanese civilians. Working with colleagues at Chicago’s Met Lab, ...
08.28.2020 5 Enemy alien The FBI pursues Leo Szilard as he loses control of the project to create a nuclear bomb. With his influence waning, the leaders of the Manhattan Project now threaten his liberty. But as the world’s first nuclear bomb comes within ...
08.21.2020 4 Pearl Harbour An attack on Pearl Harbour changes everything. After a surprise Japanese attack destroys US ships, the US declares war on Japan, and intensifies its efforts to create the first nuclear bomb. Caught in the middle of it all, Leo Szilard ...
08.14.2020 3 The Einstein letter A vital message must be delivered to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Fearing the Nazis are on the verge of creating the first nuclear bomb, Leo Szilard needs to convince the US Government to take the threat seriously. In his ...
08.07.2020 2 Race to the bomb It’s a race against time to beat the Nazis to the first nuclear bomb. After his epiphany in London, Leo Szilard must convince the scientific establishment to take the nuclear threat seriously. He turns to Frederick Lindemann, a friend of ...
07.31.2020 1 Moonshine A little-known scientist discovers something that will change the course of human history. After befriending some of the world’s greatest physicists in 1920s Berlin, Albert Einstein among them, Leo Szilard is forced to flee when the Nazis come to power. ...
07.23.2020 The prologue “My grandfather in front of a mushroom cloud”. This is the story of why I wanted to know if the Bomb could have been stopped. Episode 1 available from 1 August. #thebomb

The Bomb

What's The Bomb about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Bomb episodes:

Bonus: Introducing Rosa Ellis

Introducing The Bomb season 2

7 The doomsday clock

6 The first atomic bomb

5 Enemy alien

4 Pearl Harbour

3 The Einstein letter

2 Race to the bomb

1 Moonshine

The prologue

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