Reference: Atomic age Archived article from Dec 14, 2001 By Douglas Frank   What do Calamity, Tobacco, Lacrosse, Zucchini and Starfish Prime have in common? These terms and dozens more such colorful names for individual nuclear test blasts can be found in the "Encyclopedia of the Atomic Age" (Facts on File, 2001), edited by Rodney P. Carlisle, professor of history on the Camden campus. After team-teaching a Camden course for many years, historian Rodney P. Carlisle (right) turned to chemistry professor Sidney Katz to help write the "Encyclopedia of the Atomic Age," a comprehensive reference book for the general public Photo by Nick Romanenko/Digital manipulation by Bruce Hanson While not separate entries themselves, they can be found under "O" as in Operation Castle (or Operation Dominic or Teapot or Hardtack, et al.), the names of the various nuclear weapons test series conducted by the federal government mostly in the 1950s in the Pacific Ocean and 75 miles north of Las Vegas. Starfish Prime, for example, part of Operation Dominic, was detonated on July 9, 1962, near Christmas Island, and its electromagnetic pulse affected street lights, radio communications and burglar alarms in Hawaii, more than 800 miles away. You can also learn, by consulting a cross-reference, that an electromagnetic pulse is an intense radiation burst resulting when nuclear weapons are exploded at extremely high altitudes. It's like a giant lightning bolt, caused by the ionization of the atmosphere by gamma rays emitted during the nuclear explosion, that is capable of damaging electronic devices over thousands of square miles. The 400-page encyclopedia is intended as "a guide to the atomic age as it unfolded in the 20th century with all the scientific breakthroughs, atomic espionage, policy decisions, the people and governments that played roles in nuclear weapons development and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy," according to the editor, who is also the principal author. Carlisle's atomic age covers the years from the development of the concept of nuclear fission in 1938 through the end of atmospheric nuclear testing by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1963. There are also entries, however, that deal with earlier science laying the groundwork for fission and others that deal with such issues as nuclear power, radioactive waste and the proliferation of nuclear weapons in countries like Iraq that continue into the 21st century. The work contains some 100 illustrations, mostly photos and maps, while 500 entries range from the America-Britain-Canada (ABC) agreement to develop a nuclear weapon to zircalloy, an alloy used for cladding (coating) nuclear fuel. Most were written by Carlisle in 1999-2000. Carlisle's main collaborator was Sidney Katz, professor of chemistry in Camden, with whom he has team-taught a class in science, technology and society for many years. Katz contributed some 60 articles dealing with such topics as the elements involved in nuclear reactors, various theories and processes, and other technical matters. "I knew it would not be complete unless I had some good technical explanations," says Carlisle, "but I didn't feel entirely comfortable as a historian describing how a nuclear reaction works. Take Geiger counter, for instance: I did one on the person, Hans Geiger, and Sid did one on the machine." "It started out small," recalls Katz wryly. "Like, 'What can you tell me about. ...' Then, 'Would you like to write up one or two of these?' And then he had a list of 50 or 60 that he wasn't too keen on writing. I thought, well, the timing is compatible." The encyclopedia also outlines the roles played by various nations of the world in nuclear power or nuclear weaponry, including the superpowers and others such as Armenia, Brazil, France, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Pakistan and Ukraine. Among the personalities profiled in the encyclopedia are: Harry Daghlian, American physicist who was the first to die from an accident with nuclear materials Otto Hahn, German scientist whose work in the 1930s led to the discovery of nuclear fission Paul Tibbets, U.S. Army Air Force pilot who flew the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic weapon over Hiroshima Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Soviet physicist who was an important contributor to the development of the Soviet hydrogen bomb. Other entries tell us about the USS Thresher, a nuclear submarine that mysteriously sank off the New England coast in 1963; Fat Man, the code name for the plutonium weapon designed at Los Alamos and dropped on Nagasaki; and zero option, the concept that the United States and the Soviet Union would work toward reducing their total nuclear weapons to zero. The author of 16 previous books with three more under contract, Carlisle says he greatly enjoyed writing the encyclopedia. "The nice thing about it is that you can pick up a subject, write it and put it down and you're done -- 500 words, like journalism. And it is behind you, you don't have it on your mind for months and months as with writing a book." The encyclopedia is one of his ventures into popular writing, says Carlisle, who has written several books on nuclear history and espionage. Facts on File hopes to market the book to high school and public libraries. Sample entries from the "Encyclopedia of the Atomic Age," edited by Rodney P. Carlisle Atomic Age The term "atomic age" was apparently first introduced by the journalist William Laurence, who had been recruited by General Leslie Groves to write public relations materials about the Manhattan Project for publication after the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan. Laurence's stories took the form of press releases widely reproduced in papers throughout the world immediately after the bombs were dropped on August 6 and August 9, 1945. Laurence also may have been the first journalist to use the terms "atomic bomb" and "atomic era. ..." Scram The word "scram" is used as both a noun and a verb, meaning either a nuclear reactor shutdown or the act of shutting down a reactor by inserting CONTROL RODS into it. The term is said to have originated from a joke associated with the first reactor, CHICAGO PILE-1, in which the red button that activated an electrically driven control rod was labeled "scram." If the reactor had a runaway reaction, the operators were to push the button and get out fast, or scram. Control rod(s) The control rod is a device for controlling the rate of nuclear FISSION by controlling the neutron population in the reactor core. Rods, tubes and plates containing a material that absorbs neutrons have been used for this purpose. Cadmium is often used for the fabrication of the control rod; Boron is sometimes used for this purpose. The respective (n, g) CROSS SECTIONS for thermal neutron capture are 113Cd = 1.98 x 104 barns (b) and 10B = 3837 b. (CAPS indicate cross-references)

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