Skip to main content

Please note: this event has passed


On 3 March, please join us for the celebration of the late Prof Ken Young and Prof Warner R. Schilling's final publication, 'Super Bomb', and the remembrance of these two beloved colleagues and friends to many. Dr Richard Moore will give a talk to officially launch 'Super Bomb' and introduce many of the publication's key contributions, followed by an opportunity for attendees to ask questions and share a few words in remembrance of the authors.

Chair: Dr Christopher Hobbs, Co-Director of the Centre for Science & Security Studies

Speaker: Dr Richard Moore, Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Science & Security Studies

'Super Bomb' summary by Cornell University Press:

'Super Bomb unveils the story of the events leading up to President Harry S. Truman's 1950 decision to develop a "super," or hydrogen, bomb. That fateful decision and its immediate consequences are detailed in a diverse and complete account built on newly released archives and previously hidden contemporaneous interviews with more than sixty political, military, and scientific figures who were involved in the decision.

Ken Young and Warner R. Schilling present the expectations, hopes, and fears of the key individuals who lobbied for and against developing the H-bomb. They portray the conflicts that arose over the H-bomb as rooted in the distinct interests of the Atomic Energy Commission, the Los Alamos laboratory, the Pentagon and State Department, the Congress, and the White House. But as they clearly show, once Truman made his decision in 1950, resistance to the H-bomb opportunistically shifted to new debates about the development of tactical nuclear weapons, continental air defense, and other aspects of nuclear weapons policy. What Super Bomb reveals is that in many ways the H-bomb struggle was a proxy battle over the morality and effectiveness of strategic bombardment and the role and doctrine of the US Strategic Air Command.'

 

*Refreshments will be provided following the event.

Event details

K6.07
King's Building
Strand Campus, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS