Nuclear weapons and power in the 21st century

Abstract

On 16 July 1945, the nuclear age was heralded by the successful Trinity test explosion at Alamogordo, New Mexico. Robert Oppenheimer later wrote that the sheer force of this new weapon made him think of the Bhagavad Gita verse “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” (Hijiya 2000: 123–167). Villains in countless movies seek nuclear weapons for their evil schemes, and only the philosopher’s stone and other imaginary items rival them as sources and symbols of power in popular imagination. During the Cold War, their mere existence seemed to threaten the survival not only of opposing armies, but of civilization itself. Show more