A first for the general public, the picture of the “mushroom cloud� is a very accurate approximation of the enormous quantity of energy spread below. The first atomic bomb, released on August 6 in Hiroshima (Japan) killed about 80,000 people, but it didn’t seem enough because the Japanese didn’t surrender right away. Therefore, on August 9 another bomb was released above Nagasaki. The effects of the second bomb were even more devastating - 150,000 people were killed or injured. But the powerful wind, the extremely high temperature and radiation caused enormous long term damage.

Photographer: U.S. Air Force
Source: japaneselifestyle.com.au

World War II was a harsh time for everyone, and of course, the most affected were those involved in combat. Taken away from their families and home lands, the American men were eager to hear from home, but, unfortunately, mail didn’t come very often, and when it did, it may have contained a Dear John letter.

Their salvation appeared in 1942 with Betty Grable – her beauty, charm and sexy legs reminded the boys what they were fighting for, and so, the war became a little less unbearable.

Photographer: 20^th Century Fox
Source: life.com

Philippe Halsman is the first photographer who made a career making pictures with people jumping. One of the most famous “jumpers” was Dalí. The photo represents the atomic era (scientist said every particle is in suspension) and Dalí’s “Leda Atomica” (work of art behind the cats - unfinished yet).

For this picture there were necessary about 28 jumps, a room full of assistants throwing cats and buckets of water in the air.

Photographer: Philippe Halsman
Source: wikipedia.org

or “The Kiss”, at the end of World War II, in US cities everybody went to the streets to salute the end of combat. Friendship and unity were everywhere. This picture shows a sailor kissing a young nurse in Times Square. The fact is he was kissing every girl he encountered and for that kiss, this particular nurse slapped him.

Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt
Source: wikipedia.org

For many, this picture of Florence Owens Thompson (age 32) represents the Great Depression. She was the mother of 7 and she struggled to survive with her kids catching birds and picking fruits. Dorothea Lange took the picture after Florence sold her tent to buy food for her children. She made the first page of major newspapers all over the country and changed people’s conception about migrants.

Photographer: Dorothea Lange
Source: life.com

This is probably the most famous picture you know. This is the picture of a student who tries to stop the tanks in Tiananmen Square standing in front of them. The tank driver didn’t crush the man with the bags but shortly after, the square filled with blood. The photo showed the Chinese that there is hope. However, China is still controlled by a communist regime.

Photographer: Stuart Franklin Magnum
Source: life.com

One of the first pictures taken with the endoscope. It shows a fetus in a pregnant woman. The picture was taken by Lennart Nilsson and showed to LIFE’s editors, they demanded that witnesses confirm that they were seeing what they thought they were seeing. The picture was considered many years the symbol of humanity.

Photographer: Lennart Nilsson
Source: life.com

Stories about a monster in Loch Ness have been around since 565, but only when this picture was taken and showed to the world in 1934, “Nessie” began to be the object of contradiction, research and turism.

The interest for the creature ended in 1994 when Christian Spurling, admited it was a fake made by
his father, Marmaduke Wetherell. They made a wooden monster, Ian took the picture and they convinced Robert Kenneth Wilson (the village doctor), to tell the world he shot the picture.

Photographer: Ian Wetherell
Source: wikipedia.org

This is a famous picture, taken in 1930, showing tho young black men accused of raping a white girl, hanged by a mob of 10,000 white men. The mob took them by force from the county jailhouse. Another black man was saved from lynching by the girl’s uncle who said he was innocent. Even if lynching photos were designed to boost white supremacy, the tortured bodies and grotesquely happy crowds ended up revolting many.

Photograp from: Brettman/Corbis
Source: life.com

This picture was shot by Eddie Adams who won the Pulitzer price with it. The picture shows Nguyen Ngoc Loan, South Vietnam’s national police chief executing a prisoner who was said to be a Viet Cong captain. Once again the public opinion was turned against the war.

During the Fall of Saigon, Nguyen left Vietnam in 1975. He moved to Virginia and opened a pizza restaurant, but he had to give it up after his past had been disclosed to the public in 1991, with one patron writing “we know who you are” on a door in his restaurant. He died of cancer on July 14, 1998 in Burke, Virginia, a Washington, D.C., suburb.

Photographer: Eddie Adams
Source: life.com

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