On Plutonium

Here is a link to a wonderful account of Jermy Bernstein's book "Plutonium: A history of the world's most dangerous element."

A question of intent

By Manasi

Here is James Acton* talking at the New America Foundation on Iran's nuclear intentions and the IAEA.



It is a long talk but he makes some very interesting, and to some extent obvious points that a lot of debate on Iran has overlooked. Acton beings of by explaining how the purpose and legal obligation of the IAEA is not to analyze the 'intent' of a violating country. However, the IAEA reports on Iran tend to be looked at with a view to finding an answer to the question of Iran's intention behind violating the safeguards.

With the larger non-proliferation regime enforcement view he says that we are sending out a wrong message to future violators by harping upon the motive factor. The violating state should be punished for 'what' it has done and not 'why' it did so. Irrespective of good or bad intent the violator should be punished. By concentrating on the motive the signal being sent out is that if you violate with good intent, you can be excused. The deterrence value is diminished in the process. I think this is an important aspect to be considered given that it is almost impossible to prove 'intent' with 100 percent confidence or even beyond reasonable doubt.

*"James Acton is a lecturer at the Centre for Science and Security Studies in the Department of War Studies at King's College London. He holds a PhD in theoretical physics from Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory."

109 East Palace Avenue

By Manasi

Ashutosh at Nuclear Dreams visits, and gives us a peek into what was once the front office for the Manhattan project.

"The place was so nondescript that in 1943 and 1944, many young men missed it and walked straight past by. These were young men from diverse backgrounds. Many had been picked right out of universities for their particular talents. They were from every part of the country, from Princeton to Berkeley, from Chicago to New York. They were men and women of different dispositions, religious sentiments or the lack thereof, married or single, with an average age of 25 years. Many of them spoke English with a heavy accent. But all of them had one thing in common; all had been asked to report to 109 East Palace Avenue in downtown Santa Fe, where I was now standing. None of them knew what would happen next. All they had been asked to do was to take a train to Lamy and report to 109 East Palace. There, they would be given further instructions by Dorothy McKibben. She would send them to a place that no one had ever heard of."

New software for analysis and forecasting of terrorism

By Manasi Kakatkar

Researchers at UMD's Institute for Advanced Computer Studies have developed an artificial intelligence software that can "facilitate learning about and forecasting terrorist group behavior based on rigorous mathematical and computational models."
A detailed article and audio interview with V.S. Subrahmanian who heads the project can be found here.

Remembering Einstein

By Jibanananda Khuntia

It is out of the question that UMD Pugwash will not remember Einstein on his birthday, or at least that one of the members should have a “cognitive celebration” of his work and contributions to humankind. For the newcomers, who do not know about Einstein (presumably possible, as he did not take birth in our times), this should be good start.

I would not be exaggerating to say that he has left his footprints on every aspect of our lives, from simple mathematics to engineering, to understanding the light. For a connoisseur of food like me, his most noteworthy contribution is perhaps the refrigerator. From 1926 until 1933 Einstein worked a lot on refrigeration technology with Leó Szilárd. Einstein used the experience he had gained during his years at the Swiss Patent Office to apply for valid patents for their inventions in several countries, the two eventually being granted 45 patents in their names for three different models. Although neither Einstein nor the technology gained much out of these patents, these early works were crucial to the advancement of the field of refrigeration technology.

However, coming back to the context of Pugwash. The Russell-Einstein Manifesto is perhaps another landmark in history which led to the establishment of Pugwash. Pugwash and Rotblat jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 for efforts in nuclear disarmament. International Student/Young Pugwash groups have existed since 1979; and the rest is perhaps history.

The temporal structure of my brain likes Einstein for two reasons: firstly he was an engineer, and secondly a philosopher. In 1918, Einstein proclaimed that the foundations of his general theory of relativity lay in three principles: the principle of equivalence, the (generalized) principle of relativity, and Mach's principle. For a long time, an understanding of the foundations of the general theory of relativity seemed to require elucidation of the content of each of the principles. Perhaps one school of elucidation led to the philosophical interpretations of general relativity towards certain aspects of that theory. A discourse of the early Philosophical Interpretations of General Relativity can be found here at this Stanford Encyclopedia. Interesting to see Bertrand Russell’s comment on the Philosophical Consequences of Relativity where he concludes:

"From a practical point of view, the physical world only matters in so far as it affects us, and the intrinsic nature of what goes on in our absence is irrelevant, provided we can predict the effects upon ourselves. This we can do, just as a person can use a telephone without understanding electricity. Only the most abstract knowledge is required for practical manipulation of matter. But there is a grave danger when this habit of manipulation based upon mathematical laws is carried over into our dealings with human beings, since they, unlike the telephone wire, are capable of happiness and misery, desire and aversion. It would therefore be unfortunate if the habits of mind which are appropriate and right in dealing with material mechanisms were allowed to dominate the administrator's attempts at social constructiveness."

Talk by Jeffrey Lewis

The Student PUGWASH at UMD will host Dr. Jeffrey Lewis for a PUGWASH lecture on space security and the implications of the recent US and Chinese anti-satellite tests on Monday, March 10th at 12:30pm at 1113 VMH .

Dr. Jeffrey Lewis will provide some background on the January 2007 Chinese and February 2008 U.S. anti-satellite tests; discuss their implications for security, especially in space. He will then talk about and examine possible transparency, confidence building and arms control measures to preserve the peaceful uses of outer space.

Inside North Korea's nuclear complex

By Manasi Kakatkar

Bob Woodruff of ABC News was recently inside North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex. Not so long ago North Korea had one of the most secretive nuclear programs, and a guided tour of the any plant for a US journalist was an impossibility. Some might be skeptical of the disablement process, but this video is an achievement in itself.

It is also informative for those of us who have never been near a nuclear plant. Looking at it from inside is interesting. You also get a glimpse of the 'uranium rods' that we hear of in almost every discussion of.

Link to the video.