Reflecting on the Bomb: Oral Histories of Evolving Perspectives

In the 1990s, nuclear physicist Ted Taylor reflected on his career and recalled: “I think I was unusually attracted to the physical—not biological—the physical violence associated with explosions. [...] thinking about explosions, like, ‘What would happen if enough high explosive were put in the middle of the earth to blow it to pieces? Two pieces?’ I was fascinated intellectually.”

Using oral histories collected by the Atomic Heritage Foundation, as well as other primary sources, this presentation analyzes personal reminiscences offered by nuclear physicists who worked on both the fission and fusion bomb programs. These reflections offer insights into how scientists and technicians shared nuclear knowledge within the American and international scientific communities, and to what ends. This presentation further explores how such individuals employed personal and professional connections to disseminate nuclear knowledge, as well as how they consequently influenced the broader policy community with respect to nuclear issues. In so doing, this presentation reveals differences in messaging between physicists employed by national laboratories and the federal government, on the one hand; and scientists working in higher education and other non-governmental capacities on the other. Moreover, it sheds light upon the ways in which the dissemination of such nuclear knowledge induced some physicists to modify their views on nuclear weapons and war over time, as well as the events and realizations about their work to which they credit such changes in their positions.