Napalm Girl is a photo taken by reporter Nick Ut on June 8, 1972, while he was working for the American news agency AP. The photo shows Phan Thi Kim Phuc, then 9 years old, panicking and running naked with several other children when planes dropped bombs on Trang Bang, Tay Ninh during the war between the US and Vietnam.
The Napalm Girl Photo
Mr. Nick Ut, then 21, took Kim Phuc to the hospital. She suffered burns to 30% of her body and it was not until 2015 that he began treatment for the scars left by the burns. He shared with the press: "I cried when I saw her running on the road. If I didn't help her and if something happened and she died, I think I would kill myself."
Reporter Nick Ut
The Napalm Girl photo was later widely published around the world and was praised for helping to end the war in Vietnam. In 1973, the photo was awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for journalism. To date, the fact that 37% of British viewers voted it as the photo that changed the world over the past 5 decades in a History Channel poll further proves the influence of this photo.
Nick Ut's Napalm Girl photo was voted the most world-changing photo in the past 50 years.
The survey was conducted by the History channel to launch the 6-part series "Photos That Changed the World". The series will introduce photos that changed the world or changed the way viewers think about the world. The first episode will air on the History channel from October 21.
Photos that changed the world in the last 50 years:
1. Napalm Girl: 9-year-old girl running away from a Napalm attack in Vietnam.
2. The Drowned Boy: The body of a Syrian boy - Aylan Kurdi washed up on the shore of Türkiye.
3. Nelson Mandela: Former South African President Nelson Mandela was released from prison after 27 years.
4. Man on the Moon: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the Moon.
5. Tank Man: Unidentified man blocks Chinese tanks in Tiananmen Square.
6. 7/7 Woman in the Mask: a victim wearing a mask during the 7/7 bombing at Edgeware Road.
7. The Moors Murders: Myra Hindley's murderer.
8. The Hooded Man: prisoner Abdou Hussain Saad Faleh is tortured in Abu Ghraib prison.
9. Munich Massacre: terrorist attack on Israel's Olympic team in 1972.
10. Royal Kiss: Prince Charles kisses Princess Diana at the royal wedding.
