'Is there a point beyond which the scientist cannot go under any circumstances?' - Heisenberg's uncertainty about nuclear progress.'I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds' - Oppenheimer quoting the Bhagavad Gita after witnessing the successful demonstration of the atom bomb.The bomb which killed an estimated 140,000 (tbc) civilians in Hiroshima and destroyed the countryside for miles around, was one of the defining moments in world history, if not the defining moment of the twentieth century. That mushroom cloud cast a terrifying shadow over the contemporary world and continues to do so today. But how could this have happened? What led to the creation of a weapon of mass destruction on an unprecedented other-worldly scale?From the moment scientists contemplated the destructive potential of splitting the atom the role of science changed. Ethical and moral dilemmas faced all of those who realised the implications of their research and those who decided to use and advance it.
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