Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States - Couverture souple

Wellerstein, Alex

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0226833445 ISBN 13 : 9780226833446

Editeur : University of Chicago Press, 2024

Synopsis

The first full history of US nuclear secrecy, from its origins in the late 1930s to our post-Cold War present.

The American atomic bomb was born in secrecy. From the moment scientists first conceived of its possibility to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and beyond, there were efforts to control the spread of nuclear information and the newly discovered scientific facts that made such powerful weapons possible. The totalizing scientific secrecy that the atomic bomb appeared to demand was new, unusual, and very nearly unprecedented. It was foreign to American science and American democracy--and potentially incompatible with both. From the beginning, this secrecy was controversial, and it was always contested. The atomic bomb was not merely the application of science to war, but the result of decades of investment in scientific education, infrastructure, and global collaboration. If secrecy became the norm, how would science survive?

Drawing on troves of declassified files, including records released by the government for the first time through the author's efforts, Restricted Data traces the complex evolution of the US nuclear secrecy regime from the first whisper of the atomic bomb through the mounting tensions of the Cold War and into the early twenty-first century. A compelling history of powerful ideas at war, it tells a story that feels distinctly American: rich, sprawling, and built on the conflict between high-minded idealism and ugly, fearful power.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Alex Wellerstein is assistant professor of science and technology studies at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. He is the creator of the online nuclear weapons simulator NUKEMAP.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: University of Chicago Press
• Date d'édition: 2024
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0226833445
• ISBN 13: 9780226833446
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 528
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible