We've Gotta Talk About the Bomb
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- Опубликовано: 7 июн 2024
- Historian of science, Professor Alex Wellerstein joins me to talk about the sword haunting the ploughshare of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
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Chapters:
00:00:00 - The Manhattan Project: A Secret Industry | The Birth of the Atomic Bomb
00:02:16 - Why Study Nuclear Weapons? A Historian's Perspective | Alex Wellerstein's Path to Nuclear History
00:04:32 - Nuclear Fear Across Generations | From the Berlin Wall to 9/11
00:08:21 - First Discoveries of Fission: Bomb or Reactor? | Early Thoughts on Nuclear Technology
00:13:19 - The Manhattan Project: A Crash Course in Nuclear Industry | Building an Atomic Bomb in Two Years
00:22:31 - The Infrastructure of the Manhattan Project: From Dinner Table to Industrial Scale | Hanford, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos
00:32:36 - Was the Manhattan Project Bigger than the Space Race? | Speed, Secrecy, and the Legacy of a Crash Program
00:35:50 - Why Were the Atomic Bombs Dropped? | Exploring the Motives and Justifications
00:43:04 - How Many Bombs Did the US Have in 1945? | Production Rates and the Threat of More Bombs
00:50:52 - US Atomic Hegemony and the Prevention of World War III | Early Cold War Nuclear Diplomacy
00:59:35 - Fear of the Bomb: Radiation and the Psychological Impact | From Hiroshima to Godzilla
01:06:04 - Understanding Nuclear Fallout: Airbursts, Groundbursts, and the Threat of Radiation | Local and Global Fallout Explained
Learn more about Decouple Media: www.decouplemedia.org 
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I believe Thomas Sowell said that the atom bomb is not a new morality, only a new technology. Far more people died in Dresden or Tokyo in "ordinary" bombs than in either Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
Thomas Sowell may be a bit of an idiot but that's probably one of his better takes
not true, less people died in Tokyo or Dresden. Conventional bombings of Japan killed 300k over 6 months. Two bombs killed 200k in just 2 raids. And they'd have 20 - 30 by the end of the year. Completely different.
That was an infinitesimal bomb by modern standards. We've discovered lithium isotopes since then.
@@Cameronmid1 So you are an expert on Thomas Sowell? Which of his books have you read, and what did you find in them that makes you think is a "bit of an idiot"?
@@Brommear They haven't read anything, just a Leftist that hates anyone they disagree with.
A significant event for perspectively informing the US public about the impact of the bomb was John Hersey's 1946 article about the bombing. The New Yorker dedicated the entire issue to it. Widely read it helped lift the veil of ignorance the public had about the kind of suffering radioactivity wrought.
Great discussion.
My grandfather was serving with the 6th Marines and was on the initial invasion of Okinawa, on April 1, 1945. If the atomic bombs had been dropped before the invasion of Okinawa, many soldiers and Marines would never have been killed or injured. Not to mention all the Japanese civilians and soldiers.
I worked in Saipan years ago and I was sobering to visit Tinian and see the site where the B-29's Enola Gay & Bockscar had their atomic bombs loaded.
The planes that dropped the nuclear bombs were big and not particularly maneuverable, more like cargo planes than war planes, because those nuclear bombs were heavy, bulky, relatively inefficient prototypes. To reach their intended targets, a path from the nearest U.S.-held island or allied territory with a nice, long runway had to be cleared to assure that no one could shoot it down. How did that save anyone's life? MacArthur's blockade of Japan was working fine, but Harry S Truman was an other-directed, little man, who felt he needed to show he was tough, and an uncritical admirer of Sir Winston Churchill and other British elites, put on the ballot in place of Henry Wallace in the Dem. Convention of 1944 by people who are no friends of the U.S.A.!
A fascinating conversation, a superb job by both of you. Really nice to hear about that A bomb vs Russian declaration of war situation in 1945 Japan be put into context. So few people are aware of that Russian dimension or the history of Russo-Japanese conflict.
I look forward to the follow-up podcast in due course.
Thanks Kris. Great topic. Canadians had a role.
A company in Trail BC made heavy water.
Minute 55 is funny, a lot of German politicians sound like Truman in the 40ies! Really interesting to hear, thanks!
Excellent! Thanks!
thanks for covering this
"Weve got to talk about the bomb. The HYDROGEN bomb, Dimitri."
My Dad worked on the Manhattan Project. I grew up with The Bomb 💣 Good Times! When our 5th grade teacher started telling us about "duck and cover", I just laughed and told her it was absolutely useless. She talked with my parents. The school stopped teaching that nonsense. We kept the paper sleeping bags on top of the cabinets though.
(The entire back wall of all the classrooms was glass window.)
OMG! that is THE Alex Wellerstein. 😮
Great interview Chris .. I would ask Prof Wellerstein what his take is on the 'famous' meeting between Heisenberg and Bohr at Bohr's home in Copenhagen in 1941 ? What's the thinking about what Heisenberg knew about how to make a bomb as opposed to a reactor and how did that influence Bohr's opinion about how quickly the US should proceed ?
Bohr did meet with Oppenheimer in Los Alamos in 1943 and supposedly discussed where he thought Heisenberg was in his knowledge of building a weapon. It has also been reported that Heisenberg was well aware of how to make a bomb but deliberately sabotaged the program by slowing the pace of progress given that he disagreed with Hitler's political positions.
Bohr is also quoted as saying that he believed Heisenberg, when he spoke about using graphite, didn't actually know the mechanics of how to make fissile material explosive.
Very interesting topic, please have this guest on again.
And Mark Nelson, please have Mark Nelson on again as well.
Illuminating. Worth a couple of listens or more to catch the details. Read the book ? Thank you.
I thought Wigner anticipated the possibility of Xenon poisoning, not Xenon as such but that some fission product or its decay product could steal neutrons.
Human nature dictates that you must be capable of destroying your rival; else, you belong to them or a more powerful ally. And, is there really any difference.
I love the nuke map :)
up until the wall fell, west Germans referred to East Germany as "die sogenannte Deutsche Demokratische Republik" or "the so called German Democratic Republic"