It happened here. On the morning of August 6, 1945, the people of war-torn Japan hurried to begin the day. Overhead, a solitary airplane flew, a parachute drifted downwards, and a small manmade sun touched the earth. Buildings melted, people evaporated, and humankind lost the first battle of the atomic age. Several thousand buildings were flattened and 200 000 people perished, the lucky ones quickly; the unlucky lingered. Hiroshima, fringed by mountains forming a natural amphitheatre, seethed and fumed.