Science for Peace

On the eve of the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, VOW and WILPF-Canada have sent a joint letter to Prime Minister Carney and Minister Anand urging Canada to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), attend its first Review Conference this November, and demonstrate leadership on nuclear disarmament. With Tonga becoming the 100th state to join the TPNW, we believe Canada should be next.

Read our joint letter and two-page fact sheet in our Linktree or vowpeace.org, and join us at Hiroshima–Nagasaki commemorations in Toronto (August 6) and Halifax (August 6–7). Together, we can help abolish nuclear weapons.

Sparking Change 2026 ✨

Can we imagine — and build — a different future?

Join VOW for a weekend exploring what a nonviolent economy could look like: one rooted in community, cooperation, sustainability, local economies, and the common good.

📍 Hub and Hearth Retreat Center, Orangeville, Ontario
🌿 Interactive workshops, conversations & outdoor activities
🤝 Connect with people building sustainable and regenerative communities
💚 Organized by Jill Carr-Harris & Lyn Adamson

$175/person includes accommodation, meals, workshops & activities.

✨ Youth opportunity: Science for Peace will sponsor 3 youth participants to attend!

Come share ideas, make connections, and spark change. 🌎

Today marks 81 years since the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. We remember the lives lost and reaffirm our commitment to peace and a world free of nuclear weapons.

The bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 marked the first use of nuclear weapons in war, opening the door to the Nuclear Age and decades of suffering for survivors, communities, and the planet.

By 1946, nuclear testing—equal to 7000 Hiroshima bombs—had begun in the Marshall Islands.

Learn from survivors, take action: https://vowfromhiroshima.com

On August 6, 1945. 8:16 am in Hiroshima, Japan. After falling for 43 seconds from the B-29 Enola Gay, the Little Boy atomic bomb detonated 1,968 feet above the city. One second later, the fireball reached maximum size, 900 feet in diameter, and the mushroom cloud began to form.
As temperatures on the ground reached 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit, buildings melted and fused together, human and animal tissue vaporized. The blast wave traveled at 984 miles per hour in all directions, demolishing over two-thirds of Hiroshima’s buildings in a massive, expanding firestorm. Eighty thousand people were instantly killed or grievously wounded. Over 100,000 more would die from the bomb’s effects in the coming months. We remember so as not to ever commit the same atrocity again.

In this exact moment while you scroll through your page, at 8:15 a.m (JST), on August 6, marks 81 years since an atomic bomb was detonated on , obliterating the city and killing tens of thousands in an instant. Let us take a moment to commemorate the victims.

On August 6, 1945, the United States became the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people were killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 were injured. At least another 60,000 were dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout.

Though dropping the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War II, many historians argue that it also ignited the Cold War.

Since 1940, the United States had been working on developing an atomic weapon after having been warned by Albert Einstein that N**i Germany was already researching nuclear weapons. By the time the United States conducted the first successful test (an atomic bomb was exploded in the desert in New Mexico in July 1945), Germany had already been defeated. The war against Japan in the Pacific, however, continued to rage. President Harry S. Truman, warned by some of his advisers that any attempt to invade Japan would result in horrific American casualties, ordered the new weapon to bring the war to a speedy end.

On August 6, 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A blast equivalent to the power of 15,000 tons of TNT reduced four square miles of the city to ruins and immediately killed 80,000 people. Tens of thousands more died in the following weeks from wounds and radiation poisoning. Three days later, another bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, killing nearly 40,000 more people. A few days later, Japan announced its surrender.

The Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki
At 11:02 am local time in Japan, a bright flash of light, far brighter than the sun, illuminated the city of Nagasaki through a cloud-covered sky. Soon, a sharp boom rang out. It was August 9, 1945, and the United States had just dropped the plutonium-fueled atomic bomb "Fat Man.”

Shockwaves destroyed the immediate surroundings of the blast’s center. Within 3,000 feet (900 meters) of the bomb's hypocenter, schools, hospitals, places of worship, and other institutions felt the impacts of the bomb. The blast instantly incinerated everything nearby: people, trees, homes, cars, and buildings. Thousands of people were exposed to acute radiation, and at least 40,000 people died as result of the atomic bombing. In addition to the immediate deaths, tens of thousands more people suffered physical and emotional traumas that have not yet healed.

The atomic bombing of Nagasaki is one of only two times an atomic weapon has been intentionally used in war on a human population, following the bombing of Hiroshima just three days prior. In response to the first bombing, Emperor Hirohito directed his Foreign Minister to “make every effort to put an end to the war as soon as possible." While the Japanese discussed how to respond to the bombing of Hiroshima, United States field commanders rushed the assembly and preparation of the second bomb. A meeting of Japan’s war cabinet was scheduled for August 9, 1945, but not before the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

Image credit: Cpl. Lynn P. Walker, Jr. (Marine Corps) / Public domain

Image description: Battered statues of religious figures sit on top a pile of rubble in a devastated urban area with mountains in the background.