Ground Zero (GZ) and Air Zero (AZ) (1945 or 1947)

[Dave Wilton]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Bapopik at AOL.COM
> Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 4:58 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Ground Zero (GZ) and Air Zero (AZ) (1945 or 1947)
>
>
> THE UNITES STATES
> STRATEGIC BOMBING SURVEY
> _THE EFFECTS OF THE ATOMIC BOMB_
> _ON HIROSHIMA, JAPAN_
>    Volume 1 (Of three--ed.)
> Physical Damage Division
> Dates of Survey:
> 14 October--26 November 1945
> Date of Publication:
> May 1947
>
>    It's a bit unfair to assign the "ground zero" found here
> to May 1947. Surely, it was used in October 1945.

Not necessarily. I've seen several 1945 documents regarding Hiroshima and
Nagasaki and not one makes a mention of "ground/air zero." The terms used
are either "point of detonation" or "X." Just because the data on which the
study was based was gathered in 1945 doesn't mean the term had been coined.
It would make sense that physicists and weapons effects specialists came up
with the terms "ground zero" and "air zero" when they were interpreting the
data, which would be 1946. Until we find an earlier cite, the 1946 date
cited previously will have to do.