Co-sponsored by the Program in the History of Science, Technology, Environment, and Medicine.

The nuclear winter phenomenon burst upon the public's consciousness in 1983. Added to the horror of a nuclear war's immediate effects was the fear that the smoke from fires ignited by the explosions would block the sun, creating an extended "winter" that might kill more people worldwide than the initial nuclear strikes. In A Nuclear Winter's Tale, Lawrence Badash maps the rise and fall of the science of nuclear winter, examining research activity, the popularization of the concept, and the Reagan-era politics that combined to influence policy and public opinion. 
                                      
Lawrence Badash is Professor Emeritus of History of Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is author and co-author of numerous books and articles on the history of science and technology, including Kapitza, Rutherford, and the Kremlin (1985) andScientists and the Development of Nuclear Weapons: From Fission to the Limited Test Ban Treaty, 1939-1963 (1995).