Article
ID: CBB001450066

Korean Prometheus? Mythifying Benjamin Whiso Lee (2014)

unapi
Nuclear weapons; atomic weapons Nationalism Science and politics Public understanding of science 20th century, late Korea Lee, Benjamin Whisoh

This article evaluates the role nationalism played in popularizing the myth of Benjamin Whiso Lee as the Imaginary Father of the Korean Nuclear Bomb in the early 1990s. The main argument is that nostalgic recollections of the Yushin dictatorship, anti-Japanese nationalism, and the desire for Korean reunification provided the ideological background for Lee's mythical image. But the image would never have attained the level of myth had physics not enjoyed remarkable popularity. Although Lee, a Korean American theoretical particle physicist, never collaborated with Korean dictator Park Chung-hee, in a series of novels he was portrayed as a martyr and collaborator who led South Korea's nuclear weapons program in the 1970s. Lee was also depicted as laying a cornerstone of nuclear scientific collaboration between North and South Korea. These two aspects of Lee's mythical image were deeply related to the various social contexts, and so powerful was the combination that many South Koreans came to approve of nuclear armament. The story of Benjamin Whiso Lee, a classic example of the relationship between science and nationalism, reveals far more.

...More

Description On nationalism and the literary mythologizing of a Korean nuclear scientist in the 1990s.

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001450066/

Similar Citations

Book Anderson, Robert S.; (2010)
Nucleus and Nation: Scientists, International Networks, and Power in India (/isis/citation/CBB001020066/)

Book Toshihiro Higuchi; (2020)
Political Fallout: Nuclear Weapons Testing and the Making of a Global Environmental Crisis (/isis/citation/CBB212919708/)

Essay Review Olwell, Russell; (2010)
Two Views of Cassandra: Lawrence Badash, A Nuclear Winter's Tale; John Mueller, Atomic Obsession (/isis/citation/CBB001566396/)

Article Maguire, Richard; (2012)
“Never a Credible Weapon”: Nuclear Cultures in British Government during the Era of the H-Bomb (/isis/citation/CBB001251857/)

Book Mueller, John E.; (2010)
Atomic Obsession: Nuclear Alarmism from Hiroshima to Al-Qaeda (/isis/citation/CBB001230659/)

Thesis Barnhart, Megan Kathleen; (2007)
“To Secure the Benefits of Science to the General Welfare”: The Scientists'Movement and the American Public during the Cold War, 1945--1960 (/isis/citation/CBB001560638/)

Book Rowe, David E.; Schulmann, Robert; (2007)
Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb (/isis/citation/CBB000741829/)

Article Jaehwan Hyun; (2019)
Doctors Discussing “the Root of Koreans”: Medical Genetics and the Korean Origin, 1975-1987 (/isis/citation/CBB687025250/)

Chapter Siegert, Reinhart; (2013)
Scientific “Patriotism” between Self-Importance, Self-Recommendation and Camouflage. The Enlightenment Requirement of Public Benefit as Reflected in the Title Pages and Prefaces of Popular Works by Scholars (/isis/citation/CBB001202277/)

Article Hee-Je Bak; Daniel Lee Kleinman; (2017)
Media Cultures and the Representation of Science in Korea and the United States: The BSE Case in 2008 (/isis/citation/CBB725924186/)

Article Choi, Lyong; (2014)
The First Nuclear Crisis in the Korean Peninsula, 1975--76 (/isis/citation/CBB001213827/)

Article Kim, Dong-Won; (2003)
The Conflict between the Image and Role of Physics in South Korea (/isis/citation/CBB000340909/)

Article Hogg, Jonathan; (2012)
“The Family That Feared Tomorrow”: British Nuclear Culture and Individual Experience in the Late 1950s (/isis/citation/CBB001251858/)

Article Burkett, Jodi; (2012)
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Changing Attitudes towards the Earth in the Nuclear Age (/isis/citation/CBB001251863/)

Book Lawrence Badash; (2009)
A Nuclear Winter's Tale: Science and Politics in the 1980s (/isis/citation/CBB411724298/)

Article Smith, Melissa; (2009)
“What to Do if It Happens”: Planners, Pamphlets and Propaganda in the Age of the H-Bomb (/isis/citation/CBB000932182/)

Chapter Walker, David M.; (2009)
The Early Nuclear Age and Visions of Future War (/isis/citation/CBB000952572/)

Article Kaiser, David; (2005)
The Atomic Secret in Red Hands? American Suspicions of Theoretical Physicists during the Early Cold War (/isis/citation/CBB001021588/)

Article Cotoi, Calin; (2013)
The Politics of Ethnography: Figures of Csangoness in fin-de-siècle and Twentieth-Century Hungary and Romania (/isis/citation/CBB001201574/)

Book Quintero Toro, Camilo; (2012)
Birds of Empire, Birds of Nation: A History of Science, Economy, and Conservation in United States--Colombia Relations (/isis/citation/CBB001321260/)

Authors & Contributors
Anderson, Robert S.
Badash, Lawrence
Bak, Hee-Je
Barnhart, Megan Kathleen
Burkett, Jodi
Choi, Lyong
Journals
British Journal for the History of Science
Cold War History
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal
Endeavour: Review of the Progress of Science
Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences
History and Anthropology
Publishers
Oxford University Press
Princeton University Press
Stanford University Press
The MIT Press
Universidad de los Andes
University of California, Los Angeles
Concepts
Nuclear weapons; atomic weapons
Public understanding of science
Science and politics
Nationalism
Cold War
Science and war; science and the military
People
Bhabha, Homi
Einstein, Albert
Reagan, Ronald
Saha, Meghnad
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
18th century
19th century
20th century
20th century, early
Places
United States
Great Britain
Korea
Soviet Union
India
Colombia
Institutions
Federation of American Scientists
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
United States. Department of Defense
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty; Partial Test Ban Treaty; Limited Test Ban Treaty (1963)
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment

Creative Commons License REST API