Bridger, Sarah (Author)
Scientists at War examines the ethical debates that severely tested the American scientific community during the Cold War. Sarah Bridger highlights the contributions of scientists to military technologies and strategic policymaking, from the dawning atomic age in the 1940s through the Strategic Defense Initiative (“Star Wars”) in the 1980s, which sparked a cross-generational opposition among scientists. The Manhattan Project in the early 1940s and the crisis provoked by the launch of Sputnik in 1957 greatly enhanced the political clout of American scientists. Yet many who took up government roles felt a duty to advocate arms control. Bridger investigates the internal debate over nuclear weapons policy during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, when scientific advisors did not restrict themselves to technical assessments but made an impassioned moral case for a nuclear test ban. The relationship between government and science began to fray further during the Vietnam War, as younger scientists inside and outside of government questioned the morality of using chemical defoliants, napalm, and other non-nuclear weapons. With campuses erupting in protest over classified weapons research conducted in university labs, many elder statesmen of science, who once believed they could wield influence from within, became alienated. The result was a coalition that opposed “Star Wars” during the 1980s---and a diminished role for scientists as counselors to future presidents.
...MoreReview John Forge (2015) Review of "Scientists at War: The Ethics of Cold War Weapons Research". Metascience: An International Review Journal for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science (pp. 449-451).
Review Simone Turchetti (2016) Review of "Scientists at War: The Ethics of Cold War Weapons Research". British Journal for the History of Science (pp. 314-315).
Review Daniel Volmar (2016) Review of "Scientists at War: The Ethics of Cold War Weapons Research". Endeavour: Review of the Progress of Science (p. 137).
Review Rebecca Slayton (July 2016) Review of "Scientists at War: The Ethics of Cold War Weapons Research". Technology and Culture (pp. 696-698).
Review Ronald E. Doel (2017) Review of "Scientists at War: The Ethics of Cold War Weapons Research". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 491-493).
Review David K. Hecht (2016) Review of "Scientists at War: The Ethics of Cold War Weapons Research". Journal of American History (pp. 1255-1256).
Review Sean L. Malloy (2016) Review of "Scientists at War: The Ethics of Cold War Weapons Research". American Historical Review (pp. 605-606).
Thesis
Bridger, Sarah;
(2011)
Scientists and the Ethics of Cold War Weapons Research
(/isis/citation/CBB001567285/)
Article
Hoeneveld, Friso;
van Dongen, Jeroen;
(2013)
Out of a Clear Blue Sky? FOM, The Bomb, and The Boost in Dutch Physics Funding after World War II
(/isis/citation/CBB001212893/)
Chapter
Angelo Baracca;
(2009)
Scienza e guerra: fisica fondamentale, ricerca e realizzazione di nuove armi nucleari
(/isis/citation/CBB450782713/)
Book
Mahnken, Thomas G.;
(2008)
Technology and the American Way of War since 1945
(/isis/citation/CBB001230638/)
Chapter
Federico Chiaricati;
(2020)
Reti transnazionali di scienziati tra anni Cinquanta e Sessanta. Le Pugwash Conferences
(/isis/citation/CBB087318412/)
Chapter
Carla Konta;
(2020)
Lo scienziato jugoslavo Ivan Supek tra attivismo antinucleare e collaborazione transnazionale
(/isis/citation/CBB197493864/)
Book
Weiner, Sharon K.;
(2011)
Our Own Worst Enemy? Institutional Interests and the Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Expertise
(/isis/citation/CBB001221236/)
Book
Ken Young;
(2016)
The American Bomb in Britain: U.S. Air Forces’ Strategic Presence, 1946-64
(/isis/citation/CBB766224140/)
Article
Jacobs, Robert A.;
(2010)
Curing the Atomic Bomb Within: The Relationship of American Social Scientists to Nuclear Weapons in the Early Cold War
(/isis/citation/CBB001211593/)
Book
Steven A. Pomeroy;
(2016)
An untaken road: Strategy, technology, and the hidden history of America's mobile ICBMs
(/isis/citation/CBB509701502/)
Article
Westwick, Peter J.;
(2010)
The International History of the Strategic Defense Initiative: American Influence and Economic Competition in the Late Cold War
(/isis/citation/CBB001021963/)
Article
Whitcomb, Darrel;
(2011)
Pave Nail: There at the Beginning of the Precision Weapons Revolution
(/isis/citation/CBB001250076/)
Book
Rohde, Joy;
(2013)
Armed with Expertise: The Militarization of American Social Research during the Cold War
(/isis/citation/CBB001420027/)
Book
Elisabetta Bini;
Elisabetta Vezzosi;
(2020)
Scienziati e guerra fredda: Tra collaborazione e diritti umani
(/isis/citation/CBB957549150/)
Article
Ridler, Jason S.;
(2009)
From Nagasaki to Toronto: Omond Solandt and the Defence Research Board's Early Vision of Atomic Warfare, 1945-1947
(/isis/citation/CBB001181600/)
Book
Hargittai, Istvan;
(2010)
Judging Edward Teller
(/isis/citation/CBB001023155/)
Book
Martini, Edwin A.;
(2012)
Agent Orange: History, Science, and the Politics of Uncertainty
(/isis/citation/CBB001320939/)
Article
Slayton, Rebecca;
(2007)
Discursive Choices: Boycotting Star Wars between Science and Politics
(/isis/citation/CBB000780219/)
Book
Christopher Gainor;
(2018)
The Bomb and America's Missile Age
(/isis/citation/CBB915420021/)
Book
Alex Roland;
(2021)
Delta of Power: The Military-Industrial Complex
(/isis/citation/CBB562475074/)
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