August 6 in History

In August 1945, near the end of the Second World War, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These were the first, and so far the only, uses of nuclear weapons in warfare. Within days Japan announced its willingness to surrender, ending the war and opening the nuclear age, whose dangers and moral questions still shape world politics.

In August 2012, NASA's Curiosity rover touched down on Mars, beginning one of the most productive robotic missions in the history of planetary exploration. The car-sized vehicle was designed to answer a central question: did Mars ever have conditions that could have supported microbial life? Its findings have reshaped scientific understanding of the planet's past and shown that ancient Mars was, at least at times, a far more hospitable place than the cold desert seen today.