Lawrence Badash
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262012720
- eISBN:
- 9780262258531
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262012720.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Nuclear war analysts often compared nuclear detonations to volcanic eruptions. The connection between volcanic eruptions and climatic changes, suggested long ago by Benjamin Franklin and others, ...
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Nuclear war analysts often compared nuclear detonations to volcanic eruptions. The connection between volcanic eruptions and climatic changes, suggested long ago by Benjamin Franklin and others, received serious interest from researchers only in the early twentieth century. Today, however, a direct comparison between volcanic eruptions and nuclear war is deemed inappropriate owing to the different absorption properties of sulfuric acid and silica dust than dark smoke. Furthermore, the distributions of particle sizes are different, and warfare would give rise to fine particles from a variety of sources rather than a single location. This chapter examines scientific disciplines with less obvious connections to nuclear war, including volcanic eruptions, ozone depletion, planetary studies, dinosaur extinction, and the asteroid impact hypothesis.Less
Nuclear war analysts often compared nuclear detonations to volcanic eruptions. The connection between volcanic eruptions and climatic changes, suggested long ago by Benjamin Franklin and others, received serious interest from researchers only in the early twentieth century. Today, however, a direct comparison between volcanic eruptions and nuclear war is deemed inappropriate owing to the different absorption properties of sulfuric acid and silica dust than dark smoke. Furthermore, the distributions of particle sizes are different, and warfare would give rise to fine particles from a variety of sources rather than a single location. This chapter examines scientific disciplines with less obvious connections to nuclear war, including volcanic eruptions, ozone depletion, planetary studies, dinosaur extinction, and the asteroid impact hypothesis.
Lucy Riall
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199646494
- eISBN:
- 9780191744815
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646494.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Social History
What kind of place was Bronte? Nobody knew anything about it. The community was located on the remote, western side of Mount Etna: it was a beautiful spot with commercial potential but it was also ...
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What kind of place was Bronte? Nobody knew anything about it. The community was located on the remote, western side of Mount Etna: it was a beautiful spot with commercial potential but it was also isolated, dangerous and unfriendly. The town was filled with poor peasants who were oppressed by a few rich landowners; the whole area was threatened by regular volcanic eruptions and outbreaks of disease (notably, malaria); and the Duchy headquarters at Maniace, where the British planned to live, had been destroyed by an earthquake in 1693 and never rebuilt again. The community also enjoyed a dubious reputation for violence and savagery.Less
What kind of place was Bronte? Nobody knew anything about it. The community was located on the remote, western side of Mount Etna: it was a beautiful spot with commercial potential but it was also isolated, dangerous and unfriendly. The town was filled with poor peasants who were oppressed by a few rich landowners; the whole area was threatened by regular volcanic eruptions and outbreaks of disease (notably, malaria); and the Duchy headquarters at Maniace, where the British planned to live, had been destroyed by an earthquake in 1693 and never rebuilt again. The community also enjoyed a dubious reputation for violence and savagery.
Anthony Snodgrass
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748623334
- eISBN:
- 9780748653577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623334.003.0011
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Archaeology: Classical
Classical archaeology is something generically different from archaeology. It is almost as if the resemblances of names, like that between history and natural history, resulted from the survival of ...
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Classical archaeology is something generically different from archaeology. It is almost as if the resemblances of names, like that between history and natural history, resulted from the survival of an obsolete usage. It is time that this was changed. There is first the exceptionally thorough coverage through field-work of certain parts of the ancient Mediterranean: how many areas are there, up to sixty miles by thirty, which have more than 650 established ancient sites, as Messenia has? Secondly, there is the possibility of recognising the handiwork of a single artist in a series of works: by this means, some precision can be given to the chronology of Greek pottery in the eighth century BC; and it is this, more surprisingly, which enables two crucial episodes 800 years earlier still, the burials in the shaft-graves at Mycenae and the volcanic eruption of Thera, to be shown to be contemporary.Less
Classical archaeology is something generically different from archaeology. It is almost as if the resemblances of names, like that between history and natural history, resulted from the survival of an obsolete usage. It is time that this was changed. There is first the exceptionally thorough coverage through field-work of certain parts of the ancient Mediterranean: how many areas are there, up to sixty miles by thirty, which have more than 650 established ancient sites, as Messenia has? Secondly, there is the possibility of recognising the handiwork of a single artist in a series of works: by this means, some precision can be given to the chronology of Greek pottery in the eighth century BC; and it is this, more surprisingly, which enables two crucial episodes 800 years earlier still, the burials in the shaft-graves at Mycenae and the volcanic eruption of Thera, to be shown to be contemporary.
Victoria C. Gardner Coates
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199569366
- eISBN:
- 9780191808265
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199569366.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
A first-hand account of Vesuvius' eruption in 79 CE has survived in the form of two letters by Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the event from his uncle's villa at Misenum. Pliny's physical presence ...
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A first-hand account of Vesuvius' eruption in 79 CE has survived in the form of two letters by Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the event from his uncle's villa at Misenum. Pliny's physical presence on the Bay of Naples in late August of 79 CE has lent his letters a canonical authority, and they have functioned in the modern era as a sort of window through which to witness the eruption. This chapter proposes that, rather than being the last word in describing the eruption, Pliny stands as the first in a long and distinguished tradition of re-creating it in the service of formal history — a tradition that 1,700 years later inspired one of the quintessential history painters of the era, the Swiss Angelica Kauffmann, to compose the Pliny the Younger and his Mother at Misenum, now at Princeton. It is argued that the letters and painting in question are unified by more than the standard relationship between an ancient text and a modern image. Both Pliny and Kauffmann had a vested interest in making history, which was something of a leap for this particular author and artist.Less
A first-hand account of Vesuvius' eruption in 79 CE has survived in the form of two letters by Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the event from his uncle's villa at Misenum. Pliny's physical presence on the Bay of Naples in late August of 79 CE has lent his letters a canonical authority, and they have functioned in the modern era as a sort of window through which to witness the eruption. This chapter proposes that, rather than being the last word in describing the eruption, Pliny stands as the first in a long and distinguished tradition of re-creating it in the service of formal history — a tradition that 1,700 years later inspired one of the quintessential history painters of the era, the Swiss Angelica Kauffmann, to compose the Pliny the Younger and his Mother at Misenum, now at Princeton. It is argued that the letters and painting in question are unified by more than the standard relationship between an ancient text and a modern image. Both Pliny and Kauffmann had a vested interest in making history, which was something of a leap for this particular author and artist.
Lawrence Badash
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262012720
- eISBN:
- 9780262258531
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262012720.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Research on the nuclear winter phenomenon involved more than half a dozen scientific disciplines, from particle microphysics and atmospheric chemistry to ozone depletion, studies on the effects of ...
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Research on the nuclear winter phenomenon involved more than half a dozen scientific disciplines, from particle microphysics and atmospheric chemistry to ozone depletion, studies on the effects of nuclear weapons, fire and smoke research, volcanic eruptions, planetary studies, and even dinosaur extinction. This chapter describes some relevant aspects of fields with obvious connections to nuclear war.Less
Research on the nuclear winter phenomenon involved more than half a dozen scientific disciplines, from particle microphysics and atmospheric chemistry to ozone depletion, studies on the effects of nuclear weapons, fire and smoke research, volcanic eruptions, planetary studies, and even dinosaur extinction. This chapter describes some relevant aspects of fields with obvious connections to nuclear war.
Lawrence Badash
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262012720
- eISBN:
- 9780262258531
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262012720.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The nuclear winter phenomenon burst upon the public’s consciousness in 1983. Added to the horror of a nuclear war’s immediate effects was the fear that the smoke from fires ignited by the explosions ...
More
The nuclear winter phenomenon burst upon the public’s consciousness in 1983. Added to the horror of a nuclear war’s immediate effects was the fear that the smoke from fires ignited by the explosions would block the sun, creating an extended “winter” that might kill more people worldwide than the initial nuclear strikes. This book maps the rise and fall of the science of nuclear winter, examining research activity, the popularization of the concept, and the Reagan-era politics that combined to influence policy and public opinion. It traces the several sciences (including studies of volcanic eruptions, ozone depletion, and dinosaur extinction) that merged to allow computer modeling of nuclear winter and its development as a scientific specialty. It places this in the political context of the Reagan years, discussing congressional interest, media attention, the administration’s plans for a research program, and the Department of Defense’s claims that the arms buildup underway would prevent nuclear war, and thus nuclear winter. The book provides an illustration of the complex relationship between science and society. It examines the behavior of scientists in the public arena and in the scientific community, and raises questions about the problems faced by scientific Cassandras, the implications when scientists go public with worst-case scenarios, and the timing of government reaction to startling scientific findings.Less
The nuclear winter phenomenon burst upon the public’s consciousness in 1983. Added to the horror of a nuclear war’s immediate effects was the fear that the smoke from fires ignited by the explosions would block the sun, creating an extended “winter” that might kill more people worldwide than the initial nuclear strikes. This book maps the rise and fall of the science of nuclear winter, examining research activity, the popularization of the concept, and the Reagan-era politics that combined to influence policy and public opinion. It traces the several sciences (including studies of volcanic eruptions, ozone depletion, and dinosaur extinction) that merged to allow computer modeling of nuclear winter and its development as a scientific specialty. It places this in the political context of the Reagan years, discussing congressional interest, media attention, the administration’s plans for a research program, and the Department of Defense’s claims that the arms buildup underway would prevent nuclear war, and thus nuclear winter. The book provides an illustration of the complex relationship between science and society. It examines the behavior of scientists in the public arena and in the scientific community, and raises questions about the problems faced by scientific Cassandras, the implications when scientists go public with worst-case scenarios, and the timing of government reaction to startling scientific findings.
