The origins of the term " ground zero " began with the Trinity test in Jornada del Muerto desert near Socorro , New Mexico , and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan . The United States Strategic Bombing Survey of the atomic attacks , released in June 1946 , used the term liberally , defining it as : " For convenience , the term ' ground zero ' will be used to designate the point on the ground directly beneath the point of detonation , or ' air zero . ' " William Laurence , an embedded reporter with the Manhattan Project , reported that " Zero " was " the code name given to the spot chosen for the Trinity test " in 1945
Trinity test
Trinity (nuclear test)
Ground zero