Science & security

When Science Doesn’t Have a Simple Answer

On Feb. 20, 1958, in the midst of an escalating number of nuclear weapons tests worldwide—25 in 1955, 55 in 1957, nearly 120 in 1958—two scientists met in San Francisco for a live televised debate over nuclear weapons testing, fallout, and disarmament. In front of big block letters reading KQED, the call sign of the public television station, sat Linus Pauling, the 1954 Nobel laureate in chemistry and a compelling voice in the push for world peace through nuclear disarmament.