On the 80th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Professor Wheeler said:
“Eighty years ago, (6th August), the world entered its nuclear epoch. The atomic bomb dropped by the US on the Japanese city of Hiroshima killed between 70,000 and 140,000 civilians by the end of that year.
“For many years it was believed that building an ‘atomic weapon’ was not possible, given the amount of Uranium 235 required. However, this changed in March 1940 when two refugee physicists – Rudolf Peierls and Otto Frisch, who both worked at the University of Birmingham – produced the Frisch–Peierls memorandum. The memorandum showed that a powerful atomic bomb could be built using only a small amount of uranium-235. What drove Frisch and Peierls was fear that Nazi Germany might build the bomb first.
“The demonstration of what the atomic bomb was capable of at Hiroshima – and then again three days later with devastating effect at Nagasaki – spurred other countries to develop nuclear weapons. A key driving force for proliferation was fear of adversaries achieving a lasting decisive strategic advantage and protecting the regime from external attack.
“However, nuclear fear and the deterrence it makes possible are a fragile basis on which to safeguard humanity’s future. The world may have avoided the use of nuclear weapons since August 1945 through a combination of prudent statecraft and good luck. But how long is it before some combination of bad luck and reckless risk-taking leads to the use of nuclear weapons once again?
“Today, arms control has all but collapsed while reliable and trusted channels of communication between major nuclear adversaries are virtually non-existent. The prospects for regulating the nuclear arms competition between Russia, the United States, and China are bleak.
“As we remember the victims and those who continue to suffer from the effects of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is important to recognise that though the bomb may have been born in fear, only the building of trust – which may spring from that fear – can ensure it is never used again.”
