While observing the first nuclear fireball, the American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who lead the team of atomic bomb scientists at Los Alamos, New Mexico, recalled the ancient Hindu declaration: “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Contemporary philosophers soon began to question whether this weapon extended technology beyond the ability of human social and political institutions to control it. Over the span of just a few decades in the twentieth century, the achievements of nuclear scientists greatly changed the world in which we live. The intellectual significance of the work of many of these individuals has been publicly acknowledged through the presentation of prestigious awards, such as the Nobel Prize in physics or chemistry. Others helped bring about new levels of scientific understanding in a less publicly recognized, but nonetheless equally important, way. In addition to the nuclear reactor and the nuclear weapon, scientific breakthroughs gave rise to many of the other interesting, but sometimes controversial, nuclear technology applications. In Nuclear Technology, the physical principles behind the operation of nuclear reactors for power, propulsion, research, and isotope production are explained. Discussions also include the use of radioactivity and radiation in such areas as nuclear medicine, radiology, and food preservation. The many beneficial uses of radioactive isotopes in medicine, basic research, agriculture, industry, archaeology, geology, environmental science, and space exploration are also presented. Next, the social and political impact of nuclear technology is described. For example, nuclear technology has played a dominant role in national security and geopolitics since World War II.
Nuclear Technology and Promethean Adventure
