‘Modern man is a forest butcher’, warned the pioneering science journalist Hugh McKay in 1923. ‘He is also an oil-spendthrift and a coal waster’, McKay continued, ‘recklessly spending his capital of fuel… with never a thought of the tomorrow when he will stand shivering and motionless in the middle of a coal-less, oil-less, treeless, steel-less [...]
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Posted 14 November 2006
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articles and book chapters § weather
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Also tagged: apocaplypse, arms race, atomic bomb, climate change, Cold War, crossroads, dung beetles, fear, global warming, Hugh McKay, progress, Tim Flannery, time, turning points
The development and use of the atomic bomb was a turning point in history. It seems so obvious—the world was changed, a new age dawned. But this was not the first turning point, nor the last. History is littered with critical moments, crossroads, watersheds and points of decision. Each brings a new sense of urgency, [...]
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Posted 31 July 2003
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atomic age § history of australian science § theses
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Also tagged: atomic bomb, atomic energy, Australia, David Rivett, Edwin James Brady, Geoffrey Duffield, history of science, HV McKay, Littleton Groom, Mount Stromlo, progress, science, secrets, spies, weather
In the 1950s, CSIRO biochemist, Hedley Marston, became embroiled in what Roger Cross describes as ‘the single most important crisis’ of his professional life. Research into fallout from the British atomic tests in Australia brought Marston into bitter conflict with the government appointed Safety Committee. It was a dispute that involved many of the major [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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Posted 01 July 1996
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atomic age § conference presentations
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Also tagged: AAEC, ANU, ASIO, atomic bomb, atomic energy, Bikini Atoll, Cold War, crossroads, CSIRO, David Rivett, Emu Field, George Briggs, Les Martin, Lucas Heights, Maralinga, Monte Bello Islands, progress, secrets, uranium, Woomera
A tall, thin man in his early sixties was led into the recently remodelled Darlinghurst courtroom. Interest in the current proceedings was so great that extra seating had been provided to accommodate 200 members of the public, as well as 100 officials and 60 journalists. However, this session was to be heard in private, so [...]
Then there was a great flash that reached the far horizon. Even Dr Penney, who had witnessed the first historic cataclysm in the desert at Almagordo and later seen a bomb burst over Japan, described the scene as ‘terrifying’ as he turned around to find the frigate Plym had vanished and to see a great [...]
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Posted 01 December 1985
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articles and book chapters § atomic age
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Also tagged: atomic bomb, atomic tests, Emu Field, Ernest Titterton, Les Martin, Maralinga, Monte Bello Islands, RG Menzies, secrets, WAS Butement, William Penney
The radioactive dust had barely settled on the devastated cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki when, in November 1945, Winston Churchill proclaimed: ‘This I take is already agreed, we should make atomic bombs.’ It was, and they did – seven years later Britain exploded its first atomic bomb in the Monte Bello Islands off the coast [...]
