ABSTRACT
Nukespeak is making headlines, again. At a Singapore meeting in June 2018, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un appeared to agree upon North Korea terminating its nuclear weapons program—although the effects of the agreement remained unclear. “Brinkmanship” was invented during the Cold War in an effort to shape perceptions of statesmen. The word was first engaged in debate and in conflict and did not originate as a scientific concept, even if a move in that direction was made later on. The atom bomb was produced by careful scientific thought in the 1940s, and the physical effects of “explosions” were thoroughly investigated. It was also argued that the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were signs that persuaded the Japanese leadership that surrender was preferable to annihilation. When discourse on nuclear arms spread, “brinkmanship” in the early 1960s even appeared as a serious alternative.
