American Physicists, Nuclear Weapons in World War II, and Social Responsibility

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• 作者：Lawrence Badash
• 关键词：James Franck ; J. Robert Oppenheimer ; Ernest Rutherford ; Leo Szilard ; Robert R. Wilson ; World War II ; Manhattan Project ; Hiroshima ; Nagasaki ; atomic bomb ; fission ; nuclear weapons ; social responsibility
• 刊名：Physics in Perspective (PIP)
• 出版年：2005
• 出版时间：June 2005
• 年：2005
• 卷：7
• 期：2
• 页码：138-149
• 全文大小：200 KB
• 刊物类别：Physics and Astronomy
• 刊物主题：Physics
  Physics
  
• 出版者：Birkh盲user Basel
• ISSN：1422-6960

文摘

Social responsibility in science has a centuries-long history, but it was such a minor thread that most scientists were unaware of the concept. Even toward the conclusion of the Manhattan Project, which produced the first nuclear weapons, only a handful of its participants had some reservations about use of a weapon of mass destruction. But the explosions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki not only made society more aware of the importance of science, they made scientists more aware of their responsibility to society. I describe the development of the concept of social responsibility and its appearance among American scientists both before and after the end of World War II.