 Atomic testing in the 1950s spawned some really weird pop culture spinoffs, from atomic pattern dishes to atomic-era design elements like end tables and lamps. I'm Amy Shearer, and this week on Vintage Space, we're talking about atomic pin-up girls. The U.S. military began testing nuclear weapons in the Nevada desert in 1951 at the continental Nevada-proving grounds near the Nellis Air Force gunnery and bombing range. It wasn't long before residents in the nearby city of Las Vegas started noticing the test, and eventually it became a tourist drop, but the atomic testing was still secondary to the showgirls of Las Vegas, so before long, these two things were combined. The first atomic pin-up girl appeared without fanfare in May of 1952. Local newspapers in Dixon, Illinois and Statesville, North Carolina featured Las Vegas dancer Candace King. Under King was a caption proclaiming that she radiated loveliness instead of deadly atomic particles. The caption also went on to say that the U.S. Marines who had taken it upon themselves to crown Miss King found her lovely and intriguing, but in a different way than the bomb test that they were used to dealing with in the desert. In 1953, the winner of the annual North Las Vegas beauty pageant, Miss Paula Harris, rode the city's Chamber of Commerce float in a movie-themed parade. Her float depicted the movie the atomic city, earning her the nickname of Miss A-bomb. 1955 saw Operation Q unfold in the Nevada desert. This was a test designed to see how well normal everyday items like kitchen appliances and clothing would stand up to a nuclear blast. Unfortunately, the detonation of the bomb for Operation Q was held so many times for adverse weather. Winds forced so many holds that men involved in the program named it Operation Miss Q because they kept missing it. On May 1st of 1955, during one of the Operation Q delays, six army personnel associated with the program went into Las Vegas where they met Miss Linda Lawson. They took it upon themselves to crown her Miss Q, with a crown featuring a mushroom cloud. On May 27th of 1957, the Las Vegas News Bureau released a photograph of Copa Showgirl Leigh A. Merlin from the Sands Hotel with a cotton mushroom cloud attached to her bathing suit. She was crowned Miss Atomic Bomb and was the last official Atomic Pinup Girl and remains arguably the most famous and recognizable. All these pinup girls were crowned coincident with atomic test programs in the desert. Tuesday on Vintage Space we'll be talking about what those programs were. But in the meantime, check out the latest post on Vintage Space over at Popular Science for more on these Atomic Pinup Girls. You can grab me on Twitter as AST Vintage Space and don't forget to subscribe for weekly Vintage Space video updates. And while we're on the topic of Atomic Pinup Girls, a mushroom cloud made out of cotton balls is a pretty easy last minute Halloween costume.