Prof. Hellman's Courses

Autumn Quarter 2011-2012
STS152 Nuclear Weapons, Risk and Hope

Preparation for Meeting #10, 5 DEC 2011: Review how your thinking has changed on the issues covered in this seminar. What were its strongest and weakest areas of coverage?

Preparation for Meeting #9, 28 NOV 2011: Re-read Handout #8 on "Hope."

Preparation for Meeting #8, 14 NOV 2011: Read Handout #8 on "Hope."

Preparation for Meeting #7, 7 NOV 2011: Watch the Nuclear Tipping Point DVD.

Preparation for Meeting #6, 31 OCT 2011: Read Handout #7 on "Critical Thinking and the 2008 Georgian War."

Preparation for Meeting #5, 24 OCT 2011: Read Handout #6 on "Risk Analysis, Cuba, and the Golden Rule." I have extracted the most important material for our next class to this relatively short handout, so please ake sure you read it before the class. I have also created an optional Handout #6a, "Optional Reading on Risk Analysis and The Cuban Missile Crisis." Those of you who want to know how I justify saying my research indicates that a child born today has at least a 10% chance of not living out his or her natural life due to our reliance on nuclear weapons will find the first part answers that question. Even if you are not interested in those technical details, there is lots of interesting information on the Cuban Missile Crisis interspersed, such as details on the Soviet nuclear torpedo that came close to being used during the crisis. You can skim over the technical analysis and pick up just those parts.

Preparation for Meeting #4, 17 OCT 2011: Read Handout #5 applying critical thinking to Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs.

Preparation for Meeting #3, 10 OCT 2011: Read Handout #4 applying critical thinking to two questions: "Did the A-bombs end World War II?" and "Did Dwight D. Eisenhower object to the use of the A-bombs on Japan?"

Preparation for Meeting #2, 3 OCT 2011:

1. Read Handout #3 on critical thinking.

2. Watch the 13-minute video Assault on Pelindaba. It conveys the risk of nuclear terrorism better than anything else I have seen. You may also want to do the following optional reading on that website, which is for my project Defusing the nuclear threat: The home page where that link lands you is a five minute read and summarizes the problem and my approach to the solution. The BUILD AWARENESS tab explains the ideas behind trying to create a "pocket of nuclear awareness" on campus. A list of prominent Stanford endorsers for that effort is also available.

3. Watch a short video of an above ground nuclear test and another about "duck and cover." Note how the latter film tries to normalize a nuclear attack by likening the damage to sunburn, fires, etc. While duck and cover may sound like a joke, I was shown that film in elementary school, and we practiced duck and cover on a regular basis, just like fire drills.

Reading for Meeting #1, 26 SEP 2011: Read Handout #1. Also read Handout #2 on the physics of nuclear weapons. That material will not be required immediately, but will help you understand some later concepts, such as the relative risks of North Korea's plutonium production and uranium enrichment. If you have trouble with the physics, don't worry. It won't be key to what follows. Try to read for an understanding of which reactor types are more proliferation prone and which types are less susceptible to proliferation.

Winter Quarter 2010-2011
EE190/390 Nuclear Weapons, Risk and Hope

Course Description and Guidelines

Handout #1, January 3, 2011: Preface, Overview and the Physics of Nuclear Weapons

Handout #2, January 10, 2011: How Destructive Are Nuclear Weapons? How Likely Is Nuclear Terrorism? How Likely Is Nuclear Proliferation? Critical Thinking, Iran, and North Korea

Handout #3, January 24, 2011: Risk Analysis of Nuclear Deterrence

Handout #3A, January 30, 2011: Risk Analysis' Early Warning Signs

Handout #4, February 8, 2011: How Likely is a Full-Scale Nuclear War?

Handout #5, February 14, 2011: "How Likely is a Full-Scale Nuclear War?" Case Studies

Handout #6, February 24, 2011: Hope and the Role of Critical Thinking

Autumn Quarter 2010-2011
STS152 Nuclear Weapons, Risk and Hope

Course Description and Guidelines, September 20, 2010

Handout #1, September 22, 2010: How destructive are nuclear weapons?

Handout #2, September 30, 2010: How likely are nuclear terrorism and proliferation?

Handout #3, October 10, 2010: Understanding Iran and North Korea

Handout #4, October 17, 2010: How likely is nuclear war?

Handout #5, October 24, 2010: The 2008 Georgian War and the 1993 Russian Coup