Scribner Seminar Program
Course Description
The Nuclear Legacy
Instructor(s): William Standish, Associate Professor of Physics
What is the fallout from the Nuclear Age? Nuclear energy, fission and fusion weapons
(and the vehicles to deliver them), radionuclides for research and medical use, waste
and environmental degredation, proliferation of nuclear materials, and nuclear terrorism
all come quickly to mind. Students in this seminar will consider how achievements
in nuclear science and breakthroughs in technology have combined with actions of governmental
and non-state entities to leave use this incredibly multifaceted legacy. Students
will also evaluate and debate the efficacy of historical and proposed efforts to manage
this legacy for the benefit of humankind rather than for its destruction.