Post archives
Filtering for posts tagged with ‘1950s’
2022
December 2022
21
Meditations
May 2022
6
Redactions
What if Japan did offer nearly-full surrender terms to the US in early 1945? In the 1940s, just this was claimed — but it's not very likely.
2
Redactions
Did the Japanese offer to surrender before Hiroshima? Short answer: no. Long answer: also no, but it's a bit complicated.
2021
November 2021
19
Visions
The Rosatom historical website has an entire section devoted to "Atomic Fun" — jokes and stories from the Soviet nuclear program. It's... something.
October 2021
29
Redactions
The untold story of the world's largest nuclear bomb, the Tsar Bomba, and the secret US efforts to match it.
June 2021
14
Redactions
A bizarre leak from a powerful Senator made the Top Secret debate over building the hydrogen bomb part of national discourse — and doomed its direction.
2020
August 2020
4
Redactions
My new article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists outlines the history of casualty estimation attempts, and why they have been inherently fraught.
2019
December 2019
3
Redactions
In 1953, an eminent US scientist lost the "secret of the H-bomb" under bizarre circumstances. Read the documents behind the tale.
2018
May 2018
10
News and Notes | Visions
A new exhibit on the first nuclear-armed submarines is opening this week at the Intrepid Museum in New York.
2016
July 2016
15
Meditations
How the US came to have three major strategic nuclear platforms, and why it started calling them a "triad."
May 2016
27
Meditations
Some thoughts about the first sitting President to have visited Hiroshima.
9
Visions
Taking a close look at the targets and consequences of a declassified US nuclear war plan.
2015
December 2015
11
Redactions
Who killed J. Robert Oppenheimer's Communist lover?
4
Meditations
What caused the atomic spies of Los Alamos to do what they did? Somewhere in the zone between ideology and ego, monsters live.
November 2015
6
Visions
The popular version of Oppenheimer at Los Alamos is one of infinite competence, confidence, and charm. The reality is far more complex.
September 2015
8
News and Notes
Richard Hewlett, the first official historian of the Atomic Energy Commission, has died at the age of 92.
4
Redactions
Did "Big Science" pioneer Ernest Lawrence believe that Japan should have been warned before Hiroshima?
June 2015
26
Visions
The Soviet space dogs were more than just adorable mutts — but they were those, too.
March 2015
27
News and Notes | Redactions
The US government has once again created a headache for itself in trying to censor information about the hydrogen bomb.
January 2015
16
Redactions
What do the newly released Oppenheimer transcripts tell us about the security hearing, and its original redaction?
9
Redactions
In October 2014, the lost Oppenheimer security hearing transcripts were released. This is the story behind the story.
2014
December 2014
15
Visions
Is there a big red button that can launch nuclear war? No — but thinking about why there isn't is a nice way into the complexities of command and control issues.
October 2014
17
Meditations
Can one empathize with the spies who never confess?
September 2014
26
Visions
The impressive ugliness that almost became the emblem of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
July 2014
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?
June 2014
6
Meditations
Most of Feynman's stories about the bomb are about his hijinks. But what did he really do on the Manhattan Project, and what did he think about the bomb?
February 2014
28
Meditations
What is the legacy of the Castle Bravo nuclear test? How do we assess the human costs of the arms race?
January 2014
31
Visions
How the wonderful, terrible display of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb changed Andrei Sakharov's views on the responsibility of scientists.
2013
December 2013
23
Meditations
By looking at the trends of yield-to-weight ratios, we can peel back the veil just a tiny bit on nuclear weapons design trends.
13
Visions
Should films of nuclear detonations be put in art galleries?
