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Nuclear energy has always engendered both hope and fear in people. Depending on one’s viewpoint, the power of the atom is the key to either Utopia or Armageddon. In Nuclear Fear: A History of Images (Harvard University Press, 1988) physicist-historian Spencer Weart examines the images that have influenced discussion of nuclear energy since the latter part of the 19th century. In this excerpt from the book, Weart offers his views on the next steps in the debate over nuclear power plants a

In 1939, when World War II broke out, I held the Royal Society's Sorby Research Fellowship and was working on problems of insect physiology at Sheffield University. As my name was on the Central Register of Reserved Occupations, I was debarred from military service so as to be available for scientific work of national importance. Unfortunately, the authorities had no suggestions for any such work. I felt I should temporarily abandon insect physiology and devote my talents to some problem more c

You and Your Friendly Science Journalist Have a Lot in Common. You have to take pity on journalists. Only politicians and lawyers are more universally despised. Scientists in particular have long avoided the press, for reasons that have ranged from an admirable reluctance to toot their own horns, to a less-admirable fondness for stereotyping. "Reporters always get things wrong,"scientists mutter."They take information out of context, they sensationalize our results, and they make us look like f

CARDIFF, WALES--Scientists at the First International Conference on the Release of Genetically Engineered Microorganisms here have called for international guidelines on dissemination of new organisms. But they stopped short of formal recommendations on international regulation of genetic engineering. Deciding against a final communique, they deputized a member of the UK government’s watchdog committee over recombinant DNA, John Beringer, to carry their concerns to the Organization for

Aesthetics and Motivation in Science. S. Chandrasekhar. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1987. 170 pp. $23.95. In this small, attractive volume, the well-known astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar presents seven lectures on the motivation of scientists, the meaning of beauty in science, and contrasting patterns of creativity in science and the arts. Presented on various occasions during a 40-year period, the lectures are printed without alteration. Thus, as Chandrasekhar notes,

Atom Spy. Robert Chadwell Williams. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. 1987. 267 pp. $25. KLAUS FUCHS The Man Who Stole the Atom Bomb. Norman Moss. St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1987. 216 pp. $16.95. Any thorough account of the role of physicists in World War II requires evaluation of the activities of Klaus Fuchs, the notorious German refugee physicist who, through the 1940s, leaked top atomic secrets to the Soviet Union while actively contributing to American and British atomic

NEXT DECADE Report of a Study Group Chaired by Sir Anthony Parsons. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1987. 164 pp. $44.50. THE ANTARCTIC TREATY REGIME Law, Environment and Resources. Gillian D. Tnggs, ed. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1987. 239 pp. $54.50. The Antarctic Treaty, a pioneering political milestone, successfully resolved international territorial disputes to guarantee a free environment for scientific research: Negotiated nearly 30 years ago, the treaty has achieved

WASHINGTON--One day last fall NIH lost one-half of its "outstanding" scientist administrators. Nobody left, and there was no immediate drop in the amount or quality of work being performed on the Bethesda campus. The change was strictly on paper, a result of a 1986 decision by the Reagan administration to reduce the number of “outstanding” performance ratings given to senior executives throughout the government. But NIH Director James Wyngaarden and others feel the policy delivers

PASADENA. CALIF.--Materials scientists from several NASA-supported centers and commercial firms have developed plans to conduct research aboard the proposed industrial space facility. In February President Reagan endorsed the concept of an orbiting facility, built with private funds, that could be launched years earlier than the space station. The space lab would offer opportunities for continuous processing and testing, with experiments tended every four to six months by astronauts arriving

WEST BERLIN--The West German government has proposed a ban on the creation of human embryos for research and measures to determine the sex of fetuses developed by artificial insemination. Scientific organizations see the legislation as a threat to all research in the field. Justice Minister Hans Englehard and Health Minister Rita Süssmuth and Minister of Research and Technology Heinz Riesenhuber have been asked to prepare a draft of what is being called an embryo protection bill. It fol

Toronto--Canada faces a bleak future without a large increase in federal spending on science, according to a new report prepared for Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. The National Advisory Board on Science and Technology, composed of academic, labor and industry leaders, found that Canada ranked last among eight industrial countries in several aspects of scientific achievement. Those areas included overall and industrial R&D spending as a percentage of gross domestic product, international pate

LONDON--Glaxo, the British pharmaceutical giant, plans to build a new research and development laboratory in Japan that would employ up to 300 scientists and support staff. The center, to be completed by the early 1990s on the outskirts of Tokyo, will assume responsibility for drug trials in that country. The company’s investment in research rose by 51 percent in the second half of 1987, according to chairman Sir Paul Girolami.