'The Rise and Fall of the Atomic Age - Or How I Learned to Start Worrying and Fear the Atom'

The atomic age came crashing into being on the 16th of June 1945 when the Trinity Device was detonated in New Mexico. Atomic technology reached the world stage with the ending of the Second World War and in the years following the war the public had a ravenous appetite for all things Atomic. Soon major car manufactures designed atomic powered cars and designs for atomic powered aircraft soon followed. We were told that electricity would be "too cheap to meter" and the future was bright in the glow of atomic power.

The public embrace of atomic power began to wane as the more negative aspects of the technology became apparent. Nuclear weaponry, technology developed in parallel to atomic power, held the world to ransom during the cold war. By the time two devastating accidents at nuclear power stations either side of the Iron Curtain the public appetite for the atomic age had soured.

Join us for this exciting talk by Chris Gallagher during which we'll look at the technologies which, though inconceivable today, formed the hopes for the future during the early 1950s and track how atomic optimism gave way to nuclear pessimism. Join us on a journey to discover how the public learned to start worrying and fear the atom!