Course Description
An exploration of the role of nuclear energy and weapons in the history of the twentieth century, from the humble origins of the science of radioactivity and atomic nucleus, through the drama of World War II's race for the atomic bomb, to the nuclear-centered world politics and diplomacy of the Cold War.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be assigned extensive additional readings of the current research in the field and will meet weekly with the instructor outside of class for a discussion session. They will be required to write extra papers demonstrating their research and interpretive skills, as appropriate at the graduate level.
Athena Title
HISTORY NUCLEAR AGE
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students will be introduced to the complex set of problems associated with nuclear energy and weapons: scientific, military, political, diplomatic, and environmental. Knowing how these issues emerged and developed throughout the twentieth century will give them a better grasp on the contemporary status of the problem. A principal objective of the course is to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
1. Invisible rays and the science of radioactivity 2. Cure or killer? Radiations and medicine 3. Nuclear disintegrations and the birth of nuclear physics 4. Radium, uranium, and the discovery of fission 5. The Nazi uranium project and why it failed 6. The Manhattan project and the atomic bomb 7. The Hirochima bombing and early atomic diplomacy 8. The Soviet atomic project and the end of American monopoly 9. The thermonuclear race 10. The Cuban missile crisis and the global politics of deterrence 11. (Non)proliferation: Britain, France, China and other countries 12. The peace movement and the struggle against the bomb 13. International control and nuclear arms treaties 14. Controversies around nuclear energy Suggested Readings Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986) Holloway, Stalin and the Bomb (1994) MacKenzie, Inventing Accuracy (MIT, 1990) Fursenko, Naftali. One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958-1964 (1997)