The First Atomic Blast Occurred 68 Years Ago Today - Here Are 2000 Nuclear Tests That Have Occurred Since

63 years ago today, the first detonation of a nuclear device, code-named Trinity, was conducted by the U.S. Army on July 16, 1945.

It took place at the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, about 230 miles south of the Manhattan Project's headquarters at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Since then nations have nations have carried out more than 2000 nuclear tests combined since then, the most recent being North Korea in February.

To put that in context, Isao Hashimoto created the multimedia artwork "1945-1998" to provide a bird's eye view of all of the nuclear tests after World War II.

The time lapse excludes some notable test — including all three by North Korea's (October 2006, May 2009, and February 2013), an underground atomic blast in Colorado in 1969, and a suspected joint South African-Israeli test in 1979 — but gives an indication of the history of atomic blasts.

Things start heating up around 1952: