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> Some 60 million people died in World War II. On average, 27,000 people perished on each day between the invasion of Poland (September 1, 1939) and the formal
by justrealist 3y ago
> Some 60 million people died in World War II. On average, 27,000 people perished on each day between the invasion of Poland (September 1, 1939) and the formal surrender of Japan (September 2, 1945)
If you believed in earnest (as they did) that the atomic bombs stood a very good chance of shortening WWII, there was absolutely no case for safety regulations short of preventing accidents that wiped out large numbers of lab personnel. Even a single day's delay would kill over a thousand times as many people as lives you'd save.
- JohnBooty 3y agoYeah. Slotkin's accident was of course boneheaded (and nuclear nations should bear responsibility for their actions) but I'm amazed and dismayed at how articles like this characterize the lack of safety culture as mere carelessness or hubris. The Americans knew that the Nazis were working on atomic weapons and believed (entirely reasonably, but incorrectly) that the Nazis were likely ahead of them. What was the safety risk of a nuclear-armed Adolf Hitler? We might as well criticize the lack of "safety culture" on D-Day or at the Battle of Stalingrad. These were people doing desperate, daring things in dangerous times at an intentionally breakneck pace. Slotkin's accident occurred in 1946 after the war ended, so Germany was not a looming threat at that instant. But we had similar concerns about the USSR's nuclear weapons program at that time.