Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
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The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a nontechnical magazine that covers global security and public policy issues, especially related to the dangers posed by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. It has been published continuously since 1945, when it was founded by former Manhattan Project physicists after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists of Chicago. The Bulletin's primary aim is to inform the public about nuclear policy debates while advocating for the international control of nuclear energy.
In 1949, the Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science incorporated as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization to serve as the parent organization and fundraising mechanism of the Bulletin. In 2003, the Board of Directors voted to officially change the foundation's name to Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
To convey the particular peril posed by nuclear weapons, the Bulletin devised the Doomsday Clock in 1947. The original setting was seven minutes to midnight. The minute hand of the Clock first moved closer to midnight in response to changing world events in 1949, following the first Soviet nuclear test. The Clock is now recognized as a universal symbol of the nuclear age.
In the 1950s, the Bulletin was involved in the formation of Pugwash, an annual conference of scientists concerned about nuclear proliferation, and, more broadly, the role of science in modern society.
Contributors to the journal have included Dean Acheson, Herbert Aptheker, Raymond Aron, Isaac Asimov, Clement Attlee, Hans Bethe, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Vannevar Bush, Arthur C. Clarke, Freeman J. Dyson, Albert Einstein, Daniel Ellsberg, Albert Furtwangler, Clifford Geertz, Al Gore, Aldous Huxley, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Linus Pauling, Bertrand Russell, Carl Sagan, Joseph D. Schleimer, Leó Szilárd, Edward Teller, and Werner von Braun, among many others. Recent contributors have included Lorna Arnold, David Brin, Roberta Cohen, Alan Cranston, Bruce Cumings, Pervez Hoodbhoy, William D. Hartung, Chalmers Johnson, Michael T. Klare, Richard Lugar, Chris C. Mooney, Joseph Rotblat, and Jessica Stern.
The Bulletin sponsors the Leonard M. Rieser Fellowship in Science, Technology, and Global Security, which provides one-time awards of $2,500-$5,000 to undergraduate students seeking to explore the connections between science, technology, global security, and public policy.
The records of the Bulletin are kept at the Special Collections Research Center of the University of Chicago Library.
See also
External links
- Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (online edition)
- Doomsday Clock
- University of Chicago Library Special Collections - Exhibit commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the world's first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.