HSTCMP 215: History of Nuclear Weapons
This course covers the period from the 1890s until the early 1960s, or roughly from the discovery of radioactivity until the first substantive nuclear arms control treaties. While focusing on the Anglo-American Manhattan Project of World War II, and the post-war work of the US Atomic Energy Commission, we will also undertake a comparative history comprising the cases of Germany, the Soviet Union, and nations participating in the programs under Atoms for Peace. We will discuss the meanings and expectations imputed to nuclear technology in popular culture, implications for the relationships between science and the state, the role of nuclear weapons in Cold War history, and the relationships between nuclear technology and environmental sensibilities, among other topics. In-person lecture format with in class media presentations as appropriate.
Course requirements: two midterm exams, a final, and short writing assignments. This is a W-optional course; additional assignments to fulfill the University writing requirement will be available.