Universe Cluster Highlight Talk: Nuclear Weapons: From Beginning to End(?)

by Prof. Aron M. Bernstein (MIT)

Friday 26 Jun 2015, 11:00 → 12:00 Europe/Berlin

Faculty Club, 4th floor (TUM Institute for Advanced Study, Lichtenbergstr. 2 a, Garching)

The Excellence Cluster Universe invites for a Universe Cluster Highlight Talk with Prof. Bernstein (MIT). The talk will be followed by a get-together with drinks. Title: Nuclear Weapons: From Beginning to End(?) Speaker: Aron M. Bernstein (MIT, Physics Dept. Laboratory for Nuclear Science, and Lab. for Nuclear Security and Policy) Abstract: An overview of the nuclear arms race will be presented with emphasis on its history from inception to the present. Discussions about preventing proliferation and further use started in the secrecy of the Manhattan project for many of the atomic scientists. They continued in public during rapid cold war buildup into the present era of gradual arms control and the visionary call for abolition of nuclear weapons. The central role of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty as well as issues with Iran and North Korea will be presented. As time allows, impediments to arms control such as rapid launch deployment, weapon and delivery system modernization, and US-Russian tensions will be discussed. A personal outlook for the future will be presented. About the speaker: Aron Bernstein is Professor of Physics Emeritus at MIT where he has been on the faculty since 1961. He has taught a broad range of physics courses from freshman to graduate level. His research program has been in nuclear and particle physics, with an emphasis on studying the basic symmetries of matter, and currently involves collaborations with University and government laboratories, and colleagues in many countries. Since 1969 he has been active in the area of nuclear arms control. His teaching has included seminars on the nuclear arms race with Phillip Morrison, co-organizing a recent student seminar on nuclear proliferation, and being the advisor to a student group on arms control. Professor Bernstein chaired a Federation of American Scientists chapter at MIT and the MIT Faculty Disarmament Study Group and actively spoke out against the "star wars" anti-ballistic missile program from its inception. He worked with Henry Kendall and the Union of Concerned Scientists over a period of years, and continues to work with U.C.S. in its efforts to educate Congress on issues of arms control. Professor Bernstein is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association of Scientists. He has been awarded John Simon Guggenheim and Humboldt Senior Research Fellowships.

Slides Bernstein_NuclearWeapons_26June2015.pdf