ABSTRACT
Although the technologies are of course very different, the situation today for the nuclear industry is psychologically very similar to the situation in 1825 at the beginning of the railway age. Just as today the opponents of nuclear energy scorn the high competence of the nuclear industry, so the opponents of the railway scorned the competence of the engineer chosen by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, a colliery mechanic named George Stephenson. In 1825 a self-educated mechanic took on himself the animosity of the anti-railway activists. It is interesting that the Committee of the House of Commons, before which George Stephenson was called, showed no perception of the revolution that was to be initiated by the railway age. Not only did the colliery mechanic understand the technology of the railway itself, but he also had a clearer idea of the social changes to come than did those who set themselves up to legislate for the nation.
