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Tag Archives: AAEC

Australia’s bid for the bomb

It’s rare for a book relating to the history of Australian science to draw the attention of the national media. But Australia’s Bid for the Atomic Bomb made the front page with its claims that the origins of major institutions such as the Snowy Scheme and the ANU could be found in the government’s frustrated [...]

Posted 01 December 2001 † Tim Sherratt § atomic age § reviews and review essays ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Atomic secrets

Secrets are seductive. They offer knowledge, power, belonging – initiation into a world neatly divided into the knowing and the unknowing, us and them. The atomic bomb was revealed to an unsuspecting public as evidence of humankind’s increasing knowledge of the ‘secrets of nature’, but such secrets were not for sharing, they were a ‘sacred [...]

Posted 01 June 2000 † Tim Sherratt § atomic age § reviews and review essays ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: , ,

On the beach: Australia’s nuclear history

The clouds of radioactive fallout are descending and humanity is doomed to extinction. In Nevil Shute’s book, On the Beach, the inhabitants of Melbourne await their end – the final victims of a 37 day nuclear war that has destroyed the northern hemisphere. John Osborne, played by Fred Astaire in the film version, decides to [...]

Posted 01 July 1996 † Tim Sherratt § atomic age § conference presentations ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,