Nuclear Scientist, RadioactivityBy E.Fermi

History of Nuclear Physics

Perhaps a good place to begin the history of nuclear physics would be with the famous story of an accidental discovery by Henri Becquerel in the late 1800s. He had experimented with a photographic plate sprinkled with a layer of uranium salt and exposed to the sun. He had seen the silhouette of the phosphorescent substance in black on the negative. “When he tried to repeat his experiment…Paris was (overcast) gray. He put the covered photographic plate away in a dark drawer, uranium salt in place.” He decided to develop the plate despite the fact it hadn’t been exposed to the sun as planned and found that “the silhouettes appeared with great intensity.” He had discovered energetic, penetrating radiation, which, […]

Plutonium, RadioactivityBy E.Fermi

Natural Plutonium

Let’s start at the beginning, which, in the case of Rocky Flats, is about 4.5 billion years ago. The Rocky Flats Plant was known mostly for its role in producing plutonium components for nuclear weapons. Those of us who worked there knew that the plant did much more than that; many thousands of people who worked at the plant never came close to any plutonium. However, plutonium is what comes to mind for most people when they think of Rocky Flats. Activists who devoted themselves to protesting the place learned that they created more support against the plant when they focused on plutonium, and they began to declare that “plutonium was designed to kill.” That’s a very catchy phrase, but […]

Cold War, Deterrence, Russian spyingBy E.Fermi

Deterrence Theory

Deterrence theory gained increased prominence as a military strategy during the Cold War with regard to the use of nuclear weapons. It took on a unique connotation during this time as an inferior nuclear force, by virtue of its extreme destructive power, could deter a more powerful adversary, provided that this force could be protected against destruction by a surprise attack. Deterrence is a strategy intended to dissuade an adversary from taking an action not yet started, or to prevent them from doing something that another state desires. A credible nuclear deterrent, Bernard Brodie wrote in 1959, must be always at the ready, yet never used. In Thomas Schelling’s (1966) classic work on deterrence, the concept that military strategy can […]