Should H-bomb Tests Be Continued? [1957]

THIS PAPER is Russell’s most considered exposition of a subject which had been brought to the forefront of his political attention by the British Government’s announcement of the Christmas Island tests (see Introduction, pp. lv-lvi). It was written especially for The New Scientist, where it was published as “The Tests Should Be Stopped”, [1], 19 (28 March 1957): 24-5 (B&R C57.12). In July the article was reprinted as the foreword to an edited collection of scientific papers entitled Fall Out: Radiation Hazards from Nuclear Explosions (London: MacGibbon & Kee; New York: Greenberg), pp. 9-13 (B&R B118). Russell had been asked to take on this 1,500-word assignment by his Pugwash collaborator Joseph Rotblat, who was acting in his capacity as executive vice-president of Britain’s Atomic Scientists’ Association (ASA). Rotblat himself had recently written about the dangers of nuclear testing for the inaugural issue of The New Scientist (Rotblat 1957). But he felt that “this article, which deals only with the radiation hazards, should be followed by another dealing with the political arguments against Hbomb tests. I am sure there is no other person who could write such an article better and produce a greater effect on the public than yourself” (23 Jan. 1957).