Post archives
Filtering for posts categorized as ‘Redactions’
2015
January 2015
2
Redactions
The year in nuclear historical scholarship.
2014
November 2014
10
Redactions
The Trinity and Fat Man atomic bombs were powered primarily by plutonium — but not exclusively.
September 2014
5
Redactions
When the head of the Manhattan Project had questions about the history of the atomic bomb, he had a special, secret place to look for answers.
August 2014
8
Redactions
Did Truman fundamentally misunderstand the atomic bomb because of a debate over its use?
July 2014
25
Redactions
Would the bomb have won the war? A JASON report on the question from 1967 explores the limits of tactical nuclear weapons.
11
Redactions
Richard Feynman's FBI file contains one very pointed, personal, anonymous attack. But can we figure out who wrote it from the context?
April 2014
18
Redactions
A review of Eric Schlosser's new book, Command and Control, and thoughts on why the history of nuclear weapons accidents is hard to write.
February 2014
14
Redactions
In a short story published in 1949, Leo Szilard contemplated how well he and President Truman would fare at a war crimes tribunal. His conclusion: not well.
January 2014
17
Redactions
Los Alamos wasn't the first time that scientists retreated to secret labs.
6
Redactions
The year in nuclear history scholarship.
2013
December 2013
27
Redactions
Why did three major DOE historical databases go offline in late 2013?
November 2013
1
Redactions
How many people did it take to make the atomic bomb? Probably many more than you realize.
October 2013
25
Redactions
The 37th President had a strange relationship with nuclear weapons — he didn't think they mattered very much.
11
Redactions
Who told Werner Heisenberg that an atomic bomb might be dropped on Dresden? Plus: another curious wartime leak.
4
Redactions
If the first atomic bomb had been ready in 1944, would it have been used against the Nazis? Surprisingly, Roosevelt may have been interested in doing it.
September 2013
27
Redactions
New details about a nuclear weapons accident makes it clear how close we came to an accidental, full-yield, megaton-range detonation.
20
Redactions
How did an article about the work at the Los Alamos laboratory come to be published in March 1944?
13
Redactions
Are there any indications that the Germans penetrated into the secrecy surrounding the American atomic bomb project during World War II? Not many.
6
Redactions
During World War II, the United States didn't just fear a German atomic bomb, but also a German dirty bomb. But secrecy made acting on such fears difficult.
August 2013
23
Redactions
Did Klaus Fuchs tell the Soviet Union how to make a hydrogen bomb? Recently released documents from the Russian archives shed new light on the question.
16
Redactions
Japan managed to avoid getting the world's third plutonium core dropped on them, but it still managed to leave behind a deadly legacy.
July 2013
5
Redactions
An unusual view on the possibility of scientific secrecy from physicist who was inside the Manhattan Project but not making the bomb.
June 2013
21
Redactions | Visions
Making sense of the worst radiological accident in US history.
May 2013
2
Redactions
A brief update to the last post: translations of leaflets dropped on the Japanese after Hiroshima.
April 2013
26
Redactions
Did the United States warn Japan about the atomic bombs prior to their use? A mystery is unravelled.
12
Meditations | Redactions
Blacking something out is only a step away from highlighting its importance, and the void makes us curious.
March 2013
15
Meditations | Redactions
Did atomic secrets kill Lt. Col. Paul P. Stoutenburgh?
8
Meditations | Redactions
Where do historians stand, in the 2010s, about the decision to use the atomic bomb? A report from a recent workshop.
1
Redactions | Visions
An anonymous wartime wordsmith comes up with an novel interpretation of why Hanford was so secretive, and so unpleasant to work in.
February 2013
25
Redactions
A poem and song, both classified "secret," shed light on the early days of continental nuclear testing.
