Alex Wellerstein

@wellerstein.bsky.social

11086 Followers 605 Following

Nuclear historian. Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology. Visiting researcher at Nuclear Knowledges program, Sciences Po (Paris). Author of THE MOST AWFUL RESPONSIBILITY (2025). Creator of NUKEMAP. Blogging at https://doomsdaymachines.net.

Draft of a pre-delegation order ca. 1956, created by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Instructions for Expenditure of Nuclear Weapons." Excerpt: "The president has authorized certain Commanders of Unified and Specified Commands to expend nuclear weapons in defense of the United States, its Territories, possessions and forces when the urgency of the time and circumstances clearly does not permit a specific decision by the President, or other person empowered to act in his stead. Such commanders will be called Authorizing Commanders. ... Each Authorizing Commander must insure that such delegation of authority is not assumed through accident or misinformation. Further, it should be regarded as an authorization effective only until it is possible to communicate with the President or other person empowered to act for him."
photograph of a skull in the Paris Catacombs that I took in May 2026
The text of the Hyde Park Aide-Mémoire (18 September 1944), signed by both Churchill and Roosevelt: TOP SECRET TUBE ALLOYS Conclusions of discussion between the President and the Prime Minister at Hyde Park, September 18, 1944. 1. The suggestion that the world should be informed regarding tube alloys, with a view to an international agreement regarding its control and use, is not accepted. The matter should continue to be regarded as of the utmost secrecy; but when a “bomb” is finally available, it might perhaps, after mature consideration, be used against the Japanese, who should be warned that this bombardment will be repeated until they surrender. 2. Full collaboration between the United States and the British Government should continue after the defeat of Japan unless and until terminated by joint agreement. 3. Enquiries should be made regarding the activities of Professor Bohr and steps taken to ensure that he is responsible for no leakage of information particularly to the Russians.
Excerpt from a memo from Vannevar Bush to James Conant (23 September 1944), re a conversation that Bush had with President Roosevelt the day before: "[...] At one time in the conversation the President raised the question of whether this means should actually be used against the Japanese of whether it should be used only as a threat with full-scale experimentation in this country. He did so, I believe, in connection with Bohr’s apparent urging that a threat be deployed against Germany, which would of course, I think, be futile. I stated that there were many sides to this question, that fortunately we did not need to approach it for some time, for certainly it would be inadvisable to make a threat unless we were distinctly in a position to follow it up if necessary, since a threat which had no effect and was not followed up would have the contrary effect to that intended, and that it seemed to me that the matter warranted very careful discussion, but this could be postponed for quite a time, and the President agreed that the matter did not now need to be discussed."
A simple diagram of an "equation" and components. First is "stray bullet or shrapnel," then a plus sign, then a large, bulbous, "nuclear weapon," then an equal sign, and then a question mark. From a document talking about "one point safety" — the conditions that a nuclear weapon should be able to endure without detonating.
The so-called “graph of doom” from the American Historical Association, showing the number of new PhDs (orange) compared to the number of advertised academic jobs (blue) in the field of history. Source: AHA Jobs Report 2021. (I believe the AHA stopped updating the Graph of Doom shortly after this point, because people were calling it "the graph of doom" and getting bummed out by it, and not recognizing that there were like lots of great things to do with a history PhD outside of academia, etc. etc. etc.)
An audio "balance" setting with the center pulled a little less than half towards the left (meaning that my left ear is not hearing as well as my right).
Excerpt from the Cleveland Clinic's page on the Valsava maneuver: "What is the Valsalva maneuver? The Valsalva maneuver is a quick, noninvasive method for a fast heart rhythm called supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). It’s sometimes the first choice of treatment before trying medicine or another procedure to get your heart rhythm back to normal. To do the Valsalva maneuver, you push air out, but with your nose and mouth closed (like having a bowel movement)." I have highlighted the last parenthetical statement.
Graffiti on a preserved part of the Berlin Wall that is currently maintained by the Dokumentationszentrum Topographie des Terrors on Niederkirchnerstraße in Berlin: "MADNESS." Some of the graffiti on the wall that looks like it is about the same vintage was dated 1986, but I'm not sure there's any way to know exactly when this particular piece was added...
CNN headline: "David Hockney, once the world's greatest living artist, dies at 88"
Data on the strategic bombing of Japanese cities during WWII, divided by city. Columns are names of cities, their pre-bombing (1944) populations, the total tonnage of bombs dropped, the percentage of "build-up" area destroyed, and the percentage of homes destroyed. Among the interesting numbers: - Tokyo (pop 6.6 million) had 16,561 tonnage of bombs dropped (max on the list for both), had 50.8% of its built-up area destroyed, and 57.44% of its homes destroyed. - The highest percentage of built-up area destroyed was Toyama, with 99.5%. - The highest percentage of homes destroyed is Hiroshima, with 96.91%. It is listed as having 68.5% of its "built-up" area destroyed, which is #3 in the overall chart. - Nagasaki, by contrast, has 43.9% of the built-up area destroyed and 35.02% of the homes destroyed. (This is because of the topography of the city.) - Hiroshima is listed as have 33 tons of total bombs dropped, and Nagasaki has 395 tons, and both have a footnote that reads as the bottom "plus an atom bomb."
Screenshot from Duolingo that says "I'm on a 2000 day learning streak!" Which means I have been using Duolingo daily for the past 2000 days. In reality, it is more like 2000 days plus about 8 or 9 "missed" days ("streak freezes") due to mishap, travel, whatever.
modified classified cover sheet that originally read "ARE YOU AUTHORIZED TO HANDLE THIS DOCUMENT?" and now instead says "ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGH DUDE TO HANDLE THIS DOCUMENT?", referencing the infamous NES game "Bad Dudes" localization ("The president has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president?")
Dice developed for generating random numbers by Francis Galton, 1890
Raemer Schreiber working to insert the uranium "plug" containing the plutonium core of the Trinity "Gadget" into the device in July 1945. Photograph is from the Schreiber family: https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2018/01/documentary_about_oregons_secr.html
Excerpt from a Los Alamos report: "Supplemental Monthly Report of Production Data from DP Site for period of November 20 thru December 20, 1946," December 1946. It describes pieces of a specific core, which are the "demon core": HS-5, HS-6, and R-2 (two hemispheres and an anti-jet ring). (Note that core HS-3, HS-4, and R-1 was the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.) https://www.osti.gov/opennet/detail?osti-id=16135546
Slotin's hands, presumably not long after the exposure, as blisters appeared after 3 days. The black dots on his fingers are not an artifact of the photograph.
Excerpt from a report by Raemer Schreiber (28 May 1946), on the Slotin accident, which he was in the room for: "Meanwhile Graves and Slotin discussed the critical assembly work. In the course of the conversation, Graves asked SIotin to demonstrate a critical assembly since he (Graves) was planning to do some experiments during Slotin’s absence and wanted some indoctrination. At first Slotin said that he didn’t have the proper materials for one. Then he remembered that we had the 49 cores there so he said he would do one 'in about two minutes' in a beryllium tamper after we (Schrieber and Perlman) had finished our counts. I remarked that if he were going to do it in two minutes I was going to leave but would stick around if he took a half-hour for it. This was not intended seriously since we all had confidence in Slotin’s ability and judgment."
Wire from Edward Corson to Klaus Fuchs, February 10, 1950: DR. KLAUS FUCHS BOW STREET JAIL LONDON HAVE WRITTEN COCKROFT. NATURALLY DO NOT BELIEVE THE ACCUSATIONS. IF I CAN BE OF ANY SERVICE CALL ON ME. Fuchs' reply: THANK YOU. THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO. THE EVIDENCE WILL CHANGE YOUR MIND. FUCHS.