The center area of Aeby's color picture of the "Trinity" explosion.

Full frame of same photo

Jack W. Aeby (born August 16, 1923) is an American engineer most famous for having taken the only well-exposed color photograph of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon on July 16, 1945 at the Trinity site, New Mexico. While color motion pictures of the Trinity test were made, most were badly overexposed or damaged due to the fireball's tendency to blister and solarize the film. Aeby was a civilian assigned to the Health Physics Group with Emilio Segrè at the time his snapshot was taken.

Aeby is a source for a story about a notable estimate made by Enrico Fermi at that test:

Fermi's strips-of paper estimate was ten kilotons of TNT ^[2]; the actual yield was about 19 kilotons ^[3].

Aeby pronounces his surname /ˈæbi/, like "Abby".

[edit] See also

• Berlyn Brixner – official Trinity test photographer

[edit] References

• Jeffrey, Ian et al. (1997). The Photography Book. London:Phaidon Press Limited. ISBN 0-7148-4488-8

[edit] External links

• Article featuring Aeby talking about his photograph
• DOE page about Aeby's photograph

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