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The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was first published in December of 1945 by scientists who worked on the Manhattan project at the University of Chicago with the intention of educating other scientists and the American public about the dangers of nuclear war and other global security issues. [1] The Bulletin was designed to educate through non-technical, scientifically sound and policy-relevant information about nuclear war. In May of 1946, Albert Einstein, one of the Bulletin's first contributors, wrote, "The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe." Even today the Bulletin is committed to rendering that observation obsolete.[2]

One of the driving forces behind the creation of the Bulletin was the amount of public interest surrounding atomic energy at the dawn of the atomic age. In 1945 the public interest in atomic warfare and weaponry inspired contributors to the Bulletin to attempt to scare those interested about the dangers and destruction that atomic war could bring about. [3]In the early years of the Bulletin it was separated into three distinct stages.[4] These stages, as defined by founder Eugene Rabinowitch in "The Atomic Age" were Failure, Peril, and Fear. The "Failure" stage surrounded the Bulletin's failed attempts to convince the American people that the best and most effective way to control them was to eliminate their use. In the "Peril" stage the contributors focused on warning readers about the dangers of full scale atomic war. In the "Fear" stage the unsuccessful attempts at deterring readers from supporting the disarmament of nuclear weapons led many, including the contributors to the Bulletin to question the patriotism of others.[5]

The Bulletin still exists today with consistent updates to the "Doomsday Clock," a symbol of the Bulletin established in 1947 that gives the possible proximity of nuclear war. [6] In addition to updating the clock, contributors to the Bulletin today still discuss topics pertaining to the dangers of nuclear war and energy. Even with the end of the Soviet Union, today there still exists the danger of nuclear accidents as well as the rising threat of newly nuclear capable countries such as North Korea. Since the dawning of the Atomic Age, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has been committed to educating people about the dangers of nuclear war and it will continue to do this as long as the danger of nuclear war exists. [7]


Founders and Contributors

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The original founder and editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was physicist Eugene Rabinowitch (1898 – 1973). He founded the magazine alongside physicist Hyman Goldsmith. Rabinowitch was a professor of botany and biophysics at the University of Illinois and was also a founding member of the Continuing Committee for the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.[8] The Pugwash was an annual conference of scientists concerned about nuclear proliferation and the role of science in modern society. In addition to Rabinowitch and Goldsmith contributors have included: Morton Grodzins, Hans Bethe, A.A. Blagonravov, Max Born, Harrison Brown, Brock Chisholm, E.U. Condon, Albert Einstein, E.K. Fedorov, Bernard T. Feld, James Franck, Ralph E. Lapp, Richard S. Leghorn, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Lord Boyd Orr, Michael Polanyi, Louis N. Ridenour, Bertrand Russell, Nikolai N. Semenov, Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, A.V. Topchiev, Harold, C. Urey, Paul Weiss, among many others.[9]

Purpose of the Bulletin

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The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists began as an emergency action undertaken by scientists who saw urgent need for an immediate educational program about atomic weapons.[10] One of the purposes of the Bulletin was to educate fellow scientists about the relationship between their world of science and the world of national and international politics. A second was to help the Ameican people understand nuclear energy and its possible applications to war meant. The Bulletin contributors believed the atom bomb would only be the first of many dangerous presents from “Pandora’s box of modern science.”[11] The aim of the Bulletin was to carry out the long, sustained effort of educating man about the realities of the scientific age.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists sought to educate citizens, policy makers, scientists, and journalists by providing non-technical, scientifically sound and policy-relevant information about nuclear weapons and other global security issues. [12] The Bulletin also serves as a reliable, high-quality global forum for diverse international opinions on the best means of reducing reliance on nuclear weapons. [13] Since its inception in 1945, the Bulletin has sought to educate the American public of the continual danger posed by nuclear weapons and other global dangers.

Public Perception

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At the dawn of the atomic age, there was an incredible amount of public concern surrounding the topic of atomic weapons. In Paul Boyer’s book, By the Bomb’s Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age, he says “Not since opinion polling began, commented Time in December, 1945, had one topic evoked such ‘prolonged [and] intense public concern.”[14] The American public’s concern surrounding the new atomic age was one of the inspirations for the Bulletin. The scientists that developed the "bomb" and the other contributors to the Bulletin knew the potential destruction of atomic weapons and this knowledge inspired tbe contributors to, in the words of founder Eugene Rabinowitch, “preserve our civilization by scaring men into rationality.”[15] Albert Einstein said that he hoped the atomic bomb would “intimidate the human race into bringing order to its international affairs.”[16] The Bulletin was aimed to inform the American citizens and the world of the dangers of nuclear warfare and scare people about the dangers of nuclear weapons.

Focus of the Bulletin through History - Stage One: Failure

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Throughout the history of the Bulletin there have been many different focuses of the contributors to the Bulletin. Even before the Bulletin was established in December of 1945, there was an effort by the scientists working inside the United States to prevent atomic warfare from ever taking place. These fears and uncertainties about the effects of atomic warfare existed long before the United States dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima. The contributors strongly felt that the best and most effective way to prevent nuclear war was to prevent the use of atomic weapons.[17] The contributors to the Bulletin insisted that once it was known that the United States possessed atomic weapons, it was important that the control of the nuclear energy be out of the hands of the state.[18] In one article of the June 1946 Bulletin, written by Robert J. Oppenheimer entitled, “International Control of Atomic Energy,” he examined the idea that non state officials should control atomic energy. He said, “It may be permitted that men who have no qualifications in state-craft concern themselves with the control of atomic energy.”[19] This period of the Bulletin’s history was coined as the "Failure" stage by Eugene Rabinowitch because the Bulletin's attempt to establish control over atomic weapons was unsuccessful.

Stage Two: Peril

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While the first stage of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was labeled as the Failure stage by founder Eugene Rabinowitch, the second stage was labeled Peril. [20] Following the Soviet Union’s first atomic test on September 24th, 1949 the focus of the Bulletin shifted to warning against the dangers of full scale atomic war. Once the Soviet Union established that it had atomic capabilities, the arms race began and the danger of atomic war was continually growing. In an article entitled, “The Dangers We Face,” written in the November 1957 issue of the Bulletin, Harrison Brown stated “I believe that we (the United States) are rapidly approaching the time when industrial society will reach a ‘point of no return’ – a point beyond which recovery from major disruption may literally be impossible...”[21] The dangers of full scale nuclear war were a major concern of the Bulletin contributors and the fear and “Peril” that the they felt was expressed through their writing.

Doomsday Clock

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Once the Soviet Union developed atomic weapons, the concern surrounding the world’s destruction was a great fear of the scientists working on the Bulletin. The proximity of nuclear devastation was a popular interest and as a result the Bulletin scientists developed a symbol of nuclear danger in 1947 known as the “Doomsday Clock.”[22] The “clock” which only has bullets labeling the numbers in the upper left hand corner has graced the cover of the Bulletin many times since its creation. The proximity of the minute hand to midnight has been the Bulletin contributors’ way of predicting the potential of nuclear war. When it began in 1947, the minute hand was 7 minutes to midnight. In 1953 it was 2 minutes to midnight when the Soviet Union continued to test more and more nuclear devices. [23] This proximity to midnight of the “Doomsday Clock” during the early 1950s shows the concern that the Bulletin contributors had about the Soviet Union and the arms race. The warnings of the Bulletin continued throughout the 1950s and 1960s and the focus of the efforts shifted slightly from warning about the dangers of nuclear war to the necessity of disarmament. Throughout the history of the “Doomsday Clock” it has moved closer to midnight and farther away depending status of the world at that time. [24] Today the minute hand stands 7 minutes to midnight.

Stage Three: Fear

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As the United States and Soviet Union continued to develop more nuclear weapons it was obvious that the best way to secure world safety was to disarm, deter and control the arms.[25] The "Peril" stage was relatively unsuccessful in deterring the United States from ending the nuclear arms race and as a result the next stage coined by Rabinowitch as "Fear" set in. During this time period many people were suspicious of others for not being patriotic Americans and these issues were an interest of the Bulletin for some time. The issues of foreign espionage, loyalty, and security were all main topics of discussion for the Bulletin in the early arms race years.[26]

Throughout all of these times there were also discussions in the Bulletin of the applications of nuclear energy as a possible harvestable energy source. TOday this has become a larger focal point of the Bulletin as nuclear energy a large role in fulfilling the world's energy need. With the understanding that the world’s resources were depleting, many scientists described the pros and cons of using nuclear energy as an alternative to those that were already in use.[27]

The "Bulletin" Today

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In more recent years articles of the Bulletin have focused on many topics ranging from the dangers of radiation following the Chernobyl incident to the impact of the fall of the Soviet Union. In the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse other articles have focused on things such as military spending. The cover story of the May/June 1998 issue entitled Plain Crazy: The Joint Strike Figher Story discussed the development of a new set of military fighter jets that could "blow a hole in the attempt to create a leaner Post-Cold War militray." [28]. With the ever growing number of nuclear power plants and the demand for nuclear energy, the Bulletin has focused a great deal on the dangers and problems surrounding nuclear energy. One such focal point was the Chernobyl accident and its aftermath in the 1980s. [29] Although the arms race and the Cold War, which was a focus of the Bulletin for many of the earlier years, is no longer going on, the Bulletin still focuses on the nuclear dangers that exist in the world today. As more countries such as Pakistan and India have tested nuclear weapons, the Bulletin has focused on the dangers that are being posed by these countries. One article written in August of 1992 by David Albright and Mark Hibbs discussed Pakistan’s bomb development and how after the demise of the Soviet Union, other nations such as Pakistan were beginning to develop nuclear programs.[30]

Even more recently there have been articles written about the threat of North Korea. In an article written for the January/ February of 2002 issue of the Bulletin, David Albright and Holly Higgins addressed the threat of North Korea and the many dangers that could result from the poor relationship between North Korea and the rest of the world.[31] The potential dangers of nuclear weapons and energy as well as military and political developments in the Post-Cold War world has been the focus of the Bulletin in the most recent years.

The goal of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has always been to alert other scientists and the American public about the dangers of nuclear war and energy as well as other global dangers and this goal will continue to be sought after by Bulletin contributors for many years to come.

See also

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Notes and references

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  1. ^ http://www.thebulletin.org/about_us/history_mission.htm - Home page of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
  2. ^ http://www.thebulletin.org/about_us/history_mission.htm - Home page of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
  3. ^ By the Bomb’s Early Light, 70
  4. ^ The Atomic Age, 5
  5. ^ The Atomic Age, 5
  6. ^ http://www.thebulletin.org/about_us/history_mission.htm - Home page of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
  7. ^ http://www.thebulletin.org/about_us/history_mission.htm - Home page of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
  8. ^ Grodzins, Morton (ed.) and Rabinowitch, Eugene (ed.) (1963). The Atomic Age: Scientists in National and World Affairs. New York: Basic Book, Inc. Publishing. xv
  9. ^ The Atomic Age, xv- xviii
  10. ^ The Atomic Age, vii
  11. ^ The Atomic Age, vii
  12. ^ http://www.thebulletin.org/about_us/history_mission.htm - Home page of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
  13. ^ http://www.thebulletin.org/about_us/history_mission.htm - Home page of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
  14. ^ Boyer, Paul S. (2002). By the bomb's early light : American thought and culture at the dawn of the atomic. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan Library, 22
  15. ^ By the Bomb’s Early Light, 70
  16. ^ By the Bomb’s Early Light, 70
  17. ^ The Atomic Age, 5
  18. ^ The Atomic Age, 5
  19. ^ The Atomic Age, 53
  20. ^ The Atomic Age, 173
  21. ^ The Atomic Age, 173
  22. ^ http://www.thebulletin.org/about_us/history_mission.htm - Home page of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
  23. ^ http://www.thebulletin.org/about_us/history_mission.htm - Home page of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
  24. ^ http://www.thebulletin.org/about_us/history_mission.htm - Home page of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
  25. ^ The Atomic Age, 269 - 275
  26. ^ The Atomic Age, 355 - 493
  27. ^ The Atomic Age, 498 - 522
  28. ^ http://www.thebulletin.org/past_issues/054_003.htm - May/June 1998, Volume 54, No. 3, Brendan Mathews
  29. ^ http://www.thebulletin.org/past_issues/042_007.htm - August/September 1986, Volume 42, No. 7, Michael McCally
  30. ^ http://www.thebulletin.org/article.php?art_ofn=ja92albright – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, July/August 1992, Volume 48, No. 6, David Albright and Mark Hibbs
  31. ^ http://www.thebulletin.org/article.php?art_ofn=jf02albright_039 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January/February 2002, Volume 58, No. 1, Albright and Holly Higgins
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