Redefining science
Subtitle: scientists, the national security state, and nuclear weapons in Cold War America
By: Paul Rubinson
Series: Culture, politics, and the Cold War; Culture, politics, and the cold war
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 306
ISBN-13: 9781625342447; 9781625342430
Subjects: Nuclear weapons; Science and state; Government policy; National security; Social aspects; Science; Nuclear warfare; Antinuclear movement; Nuclear disarmament; Scientists; Cold War; Biography; History
Description: "The Cold War forced scientists to reconcile their values of internationalism and objectivity with the increasingly militaristic uses of scientific knowledge. For decades, antinuclear scientists pursued nuclear disarmament in a variety of ways, from grassroots activism to transnational diplomacy and government science advising. The U.S. government ultimately withstood these efforts, redefining science as a strictly technical endeavor that enhanced national security and deeming science that challenged nuclear weapons on moral grounds "emotional" and patently unscientific. In response, many activist scientists restricted themselves to purely technical arguments for arms control. When antinuclear protest erupted in the 1980s, grassroots activists had moved beyond scientific and technical arguments for disarmament. Grounding their stance in the idea that nuclear weapons were immoral, they used the "emotional" arguments that most scientists had abandoned. Redefining Science shows that the government achieved its Cold War "consensus" only by active opposition to powerful dissenters and helps explain the current and uneasy relationship between scientists, the public, and government in debates over issues such as security, energy, and climate change."--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: a tale of two hearings; title: From "highly unreliable" to "patriotic and prompt": scientists confront the national security state, 1945/1957; title: Linus Pauling's "science of morality": challenging nuclear weapons, 1950/1963; title: Edward Teller's flexible response: defending nuclear weapons, 1954/1963; title: "Crucified on a cross of atoms": scientists and the Test Ban Treaty, 1957/1963; title: To "sail before the wind of time": scientists and disarmament after the Test Ban Treaty, 1963/1972; title: The dilemmas of Herbert York: opposition in the mainstream, 1952/1981; title: "An elaborate way of committing national suicide": Carl Sagan and nuclear winter, 1980/1989; title: "An emotional grassroots offensive": scientists, SDI, and the moral challenge to nuclear weapons, 1980/1991; title: Conclusion: the future of nuclear weapons.