Posts Tagged: ‘nuclear bombs’

Let’s imagine that you own a nuclear power plant. You are in a pretty good position these days because, compared to a coal-fired power plant, your operation is very green. You are producing lots of reliable electricity without releasing any carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. You don’t release any other pollutants, like sulfur or mercury, [...]

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Imagine you are a scientist. In 1958 there is a big discovery – some of the very first satellites launched by the United States discover the Van Allen radiation belts. Over the next couple of years they are further studied and characterized by more satellites.

So imagine that you are a scientist, and there are no nuclear proliferation or testing bans in place yet. What’s the next thing you would do? Perhaps you would launch a nuclear bomb into space and try blowing up the belts, just to see what would happen. That, in essence, was the Starfish Prime project, which is described in vivid detail in the following video…

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In 1957, the era of atomic energy was dawning and there was tremendous optimism. Walt Disney created a movie called “Our Friend the Atom”, and it captures the optimism beautifully. From the video description: Rare Walt Disney Science series from 1957 describing the advent of the Nuclear Age. Dr. Heinz Haber, a noted scientist in [...]

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