Nuclear weapon

Key people

• Stanisław UlamPolish-American mathematician
• Mordechai VanunuIsraeli activist
• Sidney DrellAmerican physicist (1926–2016)
• Siegfried HeckerNuclear scientist

Timeline

• 1945Nuclear weapons have been used twice in war, in the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people.
• 1955The Russell–Einstein Manifesto was issued in London on 9 July 1955, by Bertrand Russell in the midst of the Cold War.
• 1960By the 1960s, steps were taken to limit both the proliferation of nuclear weapons to other countries and the environmental effects of nuclear testing.
• 1961January 24, 1961: the 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash occurred near Goldsboro, North Carolina.
• 1966January 17, 1966: the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash occurred when a B-52G bomber of the USAF collided with a KC-135 tanker during mid-air refuelling off the coast of Spain.

Read

• Nuclear weaponsUnited States. General Accounting Office · 1987Book
• Nuclear weapons and foreign policyHenry Kissinger · 1957Book
• Reflections of a Nuclear WeaponeerFrank H. Shelton · 1988Book
• Nuclear weapons in RussiaAmy F. Woolf · 1999Book

Listen

• The BombBBC World ServicePodcast
• Atomic Hobo - Nuclear War PodcastJulie McDowallPodcast
• WarfareHistory HitPodcast
• The After On PodcastRob ReidPodcast

By the numbers

• 4.7CO₂ per person (t) — global, 2024 (World Bank)
• 31.1Forest area (% land) — global, 2023 (World Bank)

Debates

• Should nuclear weapons be completely abolished?One view: Abolition reduces the risk of accidental or intentional use, leading to a safer world. · Another: Nuclear deterrence prevents large-scale conventional wars between major powers.Open question
• Is nuclear proliferation inevitable?One view: As technology spreads, more nations will inevitably seek nuclear weapons for security or prestige. · Another: Strong international treaties and non-proliferation efforts can effectively limit the spread of nuclear weapons.Open question
• Should countries with nuclear weapons commit to a 'no first use' policy?One view: A 'no first use' policy enhances stability by reducing the risk of pre-emptive strikes and accidental escalation. · Another: Maintaining the option of first use provides a stronger deterrent against conventional attacks from superior forces.Open question

Glossary

• Nuclear DeterrenceThe theory that possessing nuclear weapons discourages an attack by another nuclear-armed state.
• Non-ProliferationEfforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons technology and materials to new countries.
• Arms ControlInternational agreements and measures designed to limit the production, spread, and use of weapons.
• Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)A doctrine where a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would result in the annihilation of both.
• Fissile MaterialMaterial, such as uranium-235 or plutonium-239, capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction.
• Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)An international treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and promoting disarmament.

Careers

Roles this can lead toward

Student research

Published policy papers by One Young India delegates — every delegate leaves published under their own name.

• Global Inflation after the Pandemic: Cyclical Pressures, Structural Drivers, and Policy MisstepsGayatri Satish
• Global Emissions and Carbon Offsetting: Examining Conservational Approaches and Regulatory GapsVinayak Raj
• The Decline of Regional Languages in India – Preserving Linguistic Diversity in a Globalized EraSajinkya Sharan Gupta
• Capitalism and Global Inequality: A Unified AnalysisRuveer Vohra
• Untangling The Threads of the TikTok Ban's Impact On Global Trade via Trade, Technology, and DiplomacyAanya Menon

Threads 4

Where this connects to other fields — and why it's worth knowing.

• Software Engineering Technology

  The scariest near-launches, like Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov in 1983, came from broken sensors and buggy software screaming 'incoming missiles' that weren't there. So nuclear danger is largely a bug-hunting, reliability problem. Every step toward letting code decide to launch makes the software itself, not the enemy, the thing most likely to kill us.

• Incentives & Rational Choice Economics

  Nuclear deterrence rests on a mind-bending trick: the weapon only keeps you safe if your enemy truly believes you'd fire it, even though firing means everyone dies, including you. So a coldly rational country has to convincingly promise to do the insane thing. To stay safe, it must commit to acting crazy, and mean it.

• Norms, Deviance & Control Sociology

  Nobody has dropped a nuclear bomb in war for 75 years, and we usually credit fear of getting hit back. But it may really be a taboo, an unwritten line that makes using the bomb simply unthinkable. The scary part: a taboo isn't a law of physics, so it can quietly wear away.

• Climate Change Science

  The computer models that first warned a nuclear war could plunge Earth into a freezing 'nuclear winter' used the same physics that powers today's climate science, how tiny particles in the air trap or block heat. And both dangers ask us the same hard thing: act on a catastrophe you can't fully prove until it's too late.