Evaluation
Evaluation
The nuclear winter phenomenon generated public interest much faster than most other scientific subjects and rapidly polarized those involved. Several congressional hearings were held, a number of lawmakers got involved, and the federal government made its own research and even used the Strategic Defense Initiative as a major argument to support its stand regarding nuclear war. It was evident that politics was at play in the nuclear winter debate. Nuclear winter was a product of scientific research initiated by scientists who did not work at nuclear weapons laboratories. These scientists relied on various scientific disciplines—from particle microphysics and atmospheric chemistry to weapons effects, volcanic eruptions, ozone depletion, fire and smoke studies, planetary studies, and dinosaur extinction—to reveal the potential effects of fires triggered by nuclear explosions. Thus, nuclear winter research was a clear illustration of the increasing interdisciplinarity of science.
Keywords: nuclear winter, research, congressional hearings, politics, Strategic Defense Initiative, science, nuclear war, nuclear weapons, ozone depletion, fires
MIT Press Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
