C ould nuclear bombs be harnessed to help people? As the Cold War raged on in the 1950s, scientists building nuclear weapons began to ponder whether they could be put toward posit ...

Many Americans—including students in the History of the Atomic Bomb course taught at the University of Texas at Austin by Bruce J. Hunt, A&S '84 (PhD)—have learned a version of this story: On Aug. 6, ...