I’ve been enjoying the comments here at the blog on my piece at Foreign Policy regarding some scary moments involving nuclear weapons. I thought I’d devote a post to a few of my favorite suggestions. 1. CASTLE BRAVO. A US thermonuclear test in March 1954 at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The designers were …
Obama vs. Romney
by | 2012-11-02 | 12 Comments
U.S. presidential elections periodically offer a dramatic choice rather than an echo. This was Barry Goldwater’s campaign slogan in 1964 against Lyndon Baines Johnson. Voters chose LBJ in a landslide. Lop-sided victories are the usual outcome when two starkly different choices face U.S. voters in presidential contests. Think of Nixon vs. McGovern, or Hoover vs. FDR. …
Close Calls
by | 2012-10-30 | 23 Comments
I have a special Halloween column up at Foreign Policy on various nuclear crisis, accidents and other near-catastrophes. As I said in the opening piece, I was struck at how much I remember correctly – but also how many things I didn’t know. I am sure there will be a little error here or there, …
Neutron Letter Bombs
by | 2012-10-30 | 1 Comment
I was reading back issues of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists as part of a student-led effort on China’s development of the neutron bomb. I was particularly struck by an article by Harold Agnew entitled, “A Primer on Enhanced Radiation Weapons.” Agnew’s article is a model of clarity. It is marred only by the slightest …
