PHYS-215 Nuclear Weapons in World War II
World War II has been called "the physicists’ war"; it was perhaps the first global conflict in which physicists played a central role. In this course we examine the scientific paradigms that shaped physicists’ effort to understand fission, the relevant fission processes, and the technical principles that went into construction of the first atomic weapons. We also examine the structural and institutional hierarchies that were present at the time of the war, the social disparities involved in the fabrication of the weapons, and the decision to deploy two atomic weapons on Japanese cities.
Standard Course (40)
Prerequisite
Phys 195 and Math 216 or permission of instructor
Offered
Fall