Armageddon Science (32 page)

China Syndrome

explosions, fear of

International Thermonuclear

Experimental Reactor (ITER)

nuclear fusion reactors

pebble-bed reactors

safety of

nuclear proliferation

argument against

nuclear reactions

antimatter emissions from

key to

nuclear reactor

enriched uranium, production of

the first

key to

plutonium, production of

nuclear terrorism

dirty bombs

enriched uranium, availability of

an existing bomb, acquiring

extortion attempts

fissile material, obtaining

plutonium, ability to use

radiation detection devices

radioactive materials, availability of

smoke detectors and

United States and

nuclear weapons

atomic bomb, key to

C-bomb (cobalt bomb)

chain reaction

as a deterrence

early development of

fission bombs, boosting

Germany and

global nuclear war

Hiroshima, bombing of

Los Alamos (New Mexico)

Manhattan Project (University of Chicago)

Nagasaki, bombing of

nuclear attack, living with threat of

nuclear reactors and

plutonium bomb (Fat Man)

and radiation sickness

radium, discovery of

uranium bomb (Lille Boy)

Soviet Union, arms race with

Trinity test (White Sands, New Mexico)

See also
plutonium; uranium 235; uranium 238

nuclear weapons (H-bomb)

Bikini Atoll test

Elugelab (Eniwetok Atoll) test

fallout

power of

radiation poisoning

the Sausage (H-bomb)

the Shrimp (H-bomb)

U.S. General Advisory Committee report on

ocean

seeding with iron filings

ocean

conveyor system collapse of

Oklahoma City bomb

On the Nature of Things
(Lucretius)

operations research

Oppenheimer, Robert

Order of the Rising Sun

Ordovician/Silurian event

Oregon State

power outages

Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)

Oxford Dictionary of Scientific Quotations,

Oxford University

Pakistan

India/Pakistan border disputes

and nuclear weapons

Paley, William

Pandora’s box

particle physics

antimatter

E = mc
²

See also
Big Bang; Large Hadron Collider

Paris

heat wave, casualties from

Passion for Science, A (ed. Wolpert/Richards)

Pasteur, Louis

Paul Clifford
(Bulwer-Lytton) opening passage

Pauli exclusion principle

Pearson, Ian

pebble-bed reactors

Perimetr doomsday system

Permian/Triassic event

Perrin, Jean

PET (positron-emission tomography) scanner

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

phosgene gas

effects of

pitchblende

plague bacteria

death from

development as a weapon

Pliocene epoch

carbon dioxide levels

Plutarch

plutonium

production of

plutonium bomb (Fat Man)

arrival on Tinian Island

Nagasaki, bombing of

power of

Trinity test (White Sands, New Mexico)

polar bears

global warming and

polonium

Pompeii

ports

radiation detection devices and

positive feedback

the greenhouse effect and

positrons

power, price of

power outages

global warming and

power-generation

cleaning up

using renewable resources

Prey
(Crichton)

Prokhorov, Alexander

Prospero (fictional character)

proteins

protons

quantum theory

quarks

Rabi, Isidor

radar

radiation detection devices

radiation poisoning

radiation sickness

death from

radium

and luminous clock dials

natural levels

Rain Man
(film)

Rats, Lice, and History
(Zinsser)

rays

death ray

energy rays

gamma ray bursts

laser

light rays

ray guns

Reagan, Ronald

Rees, Martin

relativity, general theory of

Richards, Alison

ricin

development as a weapon

Robert Oppenheimer: Letters and Recollections
(ed. Smith/Weiner)

robotic development

Robotus primus

Rosovsky, H.

Rössler, Otto

Rotwang (fictional character)

Rutherford, Ernest

Saint Januarius

blood, liquefaction of

Sakharov, Andrey

San Francisco

SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak

Sancho, Luis

sarin nerve gas

Tokyo subway system attack

SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak

Schawlow, Arthur Leonard

Schwarzschild, Karl

science

danger of

Greek philosophers

the Nazis and

and World War II

See also
mad scientists; natural philosophy

science fiction

scientists

as dangers to the world

Einstein as image of

Hollywood and

the Nazis

stereotyping

talking brass head

See also
natural philosophy; science

scintillator

sea-level rises

and costal cities

and storm surges

water expansion and

sea-level rises

water expansion and

Seaborg, Glenn

seaborgium

Sedilliot, Charles-Emile

Sellers, Peter

sewage services (Australia) terrorist attack on

Shakespeare, William

Shelley, Mary

Shultz, George

SI (Système International) units

Siberian permafrost melting of

Singularity

smallpox

as potential weapon

smallpox-riddled blankets

as biological weapons

Smith, Alice Kimball

smoke detectors

Snow, C. P.

Soil Association

solar shield

and global warming

Soviet Union

and biological weapons

biological weapons, testing on the population

Biopreparat

and the cold war

Cuban missile crisis

the iron curtain

Kazakhstan test

Lysenko’s agricultural theory

nuclear program

nuclear program, espionage and

Perimetr doomsday system

Sputnik

United States, arms race with

space elevator

space flight, development of

Spanish flu pandemic of 1918

deaths from

Spock, Mr. (fictional character)

Sputnik

Stalin, Joseph

Star Trek
(film and TV series)

Star Trek: The Next Generation
(TV series)

“Star Wars” Strategic Defense Initiative

Steffen, Will

Steiner, Achim

Stimson, Henry

Stoll, Clifford

storm surges

and sea-level rises

strangelets, formation of

Strangelove, Dr. (fictional character)

Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty

Sumbawa (Indonesian) eruption

Sun

Earth’s size relative to

going nova

nuclear fusion as energy source

rays as weapon

solar shield and global warming

superhuman intelligence

Superman (fictional character)

supernova

supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems

vulnerability of

Sweeney, Charles

Nagasaki bombing

swine flu (H1 N1) outbreak

Sylvester II, Pope (Gerbert of Aurillac)

Syria

Chemical Weapons Convention of 1997

Szilard, Leo

Tajikistan glaciers

talking brass head

Teller, Edward

Tempest, The
(Shakespeare)

Terminator
(film series)

terrorism (and terrorists)

biological weapons, ease of manufacture and acquiring

and chemical weapons

and disruption

and nerve gas

weapons of mass destruction, economics of

terrorism (cyberterrorism)

and addressing computers

denial-of-service attacks

microchips, sabotaging

viruses, trojans, and worms

wireless connections, vulnerability of

terrorism (nuclear)

dirty bombs

enriched uranium, availability of

an existing bomb, acquiring

extortion attempts

fissile material, obtaining

plutonium, ability to use

radiation detection devices

radioactive materials, availability of

smoke detectors and

United States and

thalidomide

thermonuclear reaction (nuclear fusion)

Thin Man.
See
uranium bomb

Thin Man
(Hammett)

Three Mile Island

accident at

Geiger counters, indiscriminate use of

Tibbets, Paul

Hiroshima, bombing of

TNT, explosive power of

tokomak

Tokyo

firebombing raids on

Tokyo subway system sarin attack on

Toronto

SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak

Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, The
(Marlowe)

Triassic/Jurassic event

Trinity test (White Sands, New Mexico)

trojans

tropical forests from carbon sink to carbon source

Truman, Harry

on bombing of Hiroshima

and the H-bomb

tsunamis (tidal wave)

death and destruction from

Southeast Asia (2004)

warning systems

Tunguska (Siberia) event

Turco, Richard P.

Turing, Alan Mathison

Tuvalu Islands sea-level rises and

typhoons.
See
hurricanes

typhus

development as a weapon

U.S. Atomic Energy Commission

U.S. General Advisory Committee report

U.S. National Academy of Sciences

U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research

UFOs

Ulam, Stanislaw

Ulysses
(Joyce)

UN Atomic Energy Commission

UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Union Carbide

Bhopal (India) plant disaster

United Kingdom

and biological weapons

electricity and gas networks, Irish

Republican Army plot against

maintaining nuclear deterrent, questioning

and nuclear weapons

power outages

soil switching from carbon sink to carbon source

wildfires and

United States

and biological weapons

eastern seaboard, rising seas and

West Coast electricity grid, vulnerability of

United States (and nuclear weapons)

and the cold war

Cuban missile crisis

Hiroshima bombing

Los Alamos (New Mexico)

Manhattan Project (University of Chicago)

Nagasaki bombing

nuclear attack, living with threat of

Soviet Union, arms race with

V series nerve gases