Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States Nevada Las Vegas Atomic Museum

Atomic Museum

Stepping away from the glitz of mobsters and casinos to learn about the other history of Vegas.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Added By
Alex Medina
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
CAPTION
Atomic Testing Museum, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA   Richard Cummins / Alamy
Mannequins replicating those purchased from JCPenny for testing the effects of Atomic Bombs on humans.   utahcon / Atlas Obscura User
Badges from the Manhattan Project   utahcon / Atlas Obscura User
A replica office from the first Atomic Testing Zone city   utahcon / Atlas Obscura User
  Taterchips / Atlas Obscura User
Contamination tape   Avoiding Regret (Used with permission)
Steel helmet   Avoiding Regret (Used with permission)
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
Entryway to the museum.   Smart Destinations/CC BY-SA 2.0
  CoolCrab / Atlas Obscura User
  lomicster / Atlas Obscura User
Display of pop culture ephemera   Avoiding Regret (Used with permission)
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
  lomicster / Atlas Obscura User
Minometer II   Avoiding Regret (Used with permission)
  paigeelizabeth3660 / Atlas Obscura User
Manhattan Project pin  
  Sarah Karlson
View from one of the opening exhibits, 2011  
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Las Vegas is an oasis in the desert where no one sleeps, and every vice you can imagine is available—for the right price. But debauchery and hedonism are the lighter side of a more ominous history.

The isolation of Sin City was not only the perfect place to escape and act out fantasies, it was also an ideal place to do a whole bunch of nuclear testing. Starting in 1951, the Nevada Test Site was a very busy place, and most of the iconic images and photos from what we think of as the nuclear era come from NTS. The testing spot, now called the Nevada National Security Site, is about 65 miles northwest of the sparkling streets of Las Vegas proper.

While most tourists that visit the Capital of Second Chances are interested in the city's rich gangster-soaked history of mobsters and indulgent celebrities or the unbelievable architecture of the casinos, those who take an interest in the Atomic Age are smack in the middle of the place where so much of it happened, and the Atomic Museum (previously known as the National Atomic Testing Museum) is the place to start.

Housing over 12,000 artifacts, the sobering museum showcases not only the history of the Nevada Test Site, but tells the story of the nation's nuclear program and its impact on Las Vegas and the surrounding communities. During the '50s and '60s, the population in Las Vegas doubled and then tripled with people who wanted to be close to the exciting scientific happenings and watch the mushroom clouds billow against the sunset. The museum, affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, is not just Geiger counters and old black-and-white photos – it also highlights the pop culture and the sociological trends of what is arguably one of the most controversial periods in American history.

Related Tags

Museums And Collections Atom Bombs Museums Nuclear Strange Science Instruments Of Science

Know Before You Go

The museum is located just east of the Las Vegas Strip, on East Flamingo Road near the the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

Community Contributors

Added By

Alex

Edited By

Avoiding Regret, pollardld, Martin, ashree106...

  • Avoiding Regret
  • pollardld
  • Martin
  • ashree106
  • WhiskeyBristles
  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • dlc31723
  • nhutchinsmsw
  • CoolCrab
  • patricelehocky
  • utahcon
  • Collector of Experiences
  • lomicster
  • paigeelizabeth3660
  • ccesare
  • Taterchips
  • theannemeadows
  • maestro olsen

Published

March 25, 2013

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Atomic Museum
755 E Flamingo Rd
Las Vegas, Nevada, 89119
United States
36.114064, -115.148354
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Tupac Shakur Memorial

Las Vegas, Nevada

miles away

Underground House

Las Vegas, Nevada

miles away

Bugsy Siegel Monument

Las Vegas, Nevada

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Las Vegas

Las Vegas

Nevada

Places 46
Stories 15

Nearby Places

Tupac Shakur Memorial

Las Vegas, Nevada

miles away

Underground House

Las Vegas, Nevada

miles away

Bugsy Siegel Monument

Las Vegas, Nevada

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Las Vegas

Las Vegas

Nevada

Places 46
Stories 15

Related Stories and Lists

The 11 Most Unusual Places to Visit Near the Las Vegas Strip

List

By Atlas Obscura

Take a Podcast Tour of Some of the World's Most Unusual Museums

cryptozoology

By April White

National Atomic Testing Museum

Podcast

By The Podcast Team

17 Hidden Las Vegas Spots It Would Be a Sin to Miss

List

By Kavya Ram Mohan

Five Landmarks of Atomic Nevada

atom bombs

Sponsored by Travel Nevada

Burlesque, Boneyards, and Bombs: The Other Wonders of Las Vegas

sponsored

Sponsored by Travel Nevada

Related Places

  • Green Valley, Arizona

    Titan Missile Museum

    America's only nuclear missile silo open to the public.

  • Museum Uranbergbau exterior.

    Bad Schlema, Germany

    Museum Uranbergbau

    Learn the incredible story of how an unassuming spa town was transformed into one of the world’s largest uranium mining sites.

  • Wilson Greatbatch’s tool box.

    Clarence, New York

    Greatbatch Barn

    This exhibit pays tribute to the “humble tinkerer” who invented the implantable pacemaker.

  • The Helsinki Observatory.

    Helsinki, Finland

    Helsinki Observatory

    Finland's oldest astronomical observatory once played a crucial role in seafaring and timekeeping.

  • The B-1 Flat Top at the American Museum of Science and Energy.

    Oak Ridge, Tennessee

    B-1 Flat Top in Oak Ridge

    One of the Cemestos prefab homes built to secretly house thousands of Manhattan Project workers.

  • The gallery of medical exhibits.

    Venice, Italy

    Scuola Grande di San Marco

    The marble facade hides a little-known medical museum with early surgical instruments and rare copies of canonical texts.

  • Museum exhibition and a clock that stopped when the bomb dropped.

    Nagasaki, Japan

    Atomic Bomb Medical Museum

    A sobering scientific reminder of the human damage caused by the advent of the nuclear age.

  • Exhibit resembling reactor 4 which suffered the catastrophic failure, Ukrainian National Chornobyl Museum, Kyev, Ukraine

    Kyiv, Ukraine

    Ukrainian National Chornobyl Museum

    This unassuming museum's slogan translates to “there is a limit of sadness, anxiety has no limits."

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.