A beautiful but deadly mushroom cloud towering above Bikini Atoll
© Getty
■The US tested over 1,000 nuclear bombs between 1951 and 1992, both atmospheric and underground. The purpose of these tests was to determine the effects of a nuclear attack on the physical environment and any human-made structures, as well as studying the effects of nuclear fallout. As the Soviet Union began building up its own atomic weapon arsenal after World War II, America became intent on developing the largest number of nuclear arms to reinforce US power and control.