How the Nation's Hydrogen Bomb Secrets Disappeared
Tuesday, December 3, 2019 - 16:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Given a choice of items to lose on a train, a top-secret document detailing the newly developed hydrogen bomb should be on the bottom of the list. In January 1953, amid the Red Scare and the Korean War, that's exactly what physicist John Archibald Wheeler lost. In the December 2019 issue of Physics Today, science historian Alex Wellerstein details the creation of the document and Wheeler's day leading up to its mysterious loss.