Imaginary Weapons: A Journey Through the Pentagon's Scientific Underworld
Sharon Weinberger discusses the U.S. government's history of funding unconventional weapons projects and assesses their feasibility. In particular, Ms. Weinberger traces the Defense Department's unsuccessful efforts to develop an isomer bomb, a grenade-sized explosive device which in theory would have the power of a nuclear bomb. Ms. Weinberger argues that there should be more oversight of such unconventional weapons programs that don't work but continue to get billions of dollars in funding. This event was held at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC.
Bio
Sharon Weinberger
Sharon Weinberger is the editor-in-chief of Defense Technology International, a bimonthly editorial supplement to Aviation Week & Space Technology. Her writing on science and technology has also appeared in Slate and the Washington Post Magazine. Her book Imaginary Weapons originated as a series of articles she wrote for the Washington Post.
It is hard to believe the CIA really has funded psychic work for the defense industry. This is news to me. Weinberger tracing of the hafnium bomb is frightening and intriguing. These are the types of things we never hear about and when we learn them, we just want to learn more. Psychics, the Jasons, a secret society of scientists, and the underworld of scientific study. It all sounds like science fiction. Her detail of the politicalization of scientific funding is also surprising. While the isomer testing had repeatedly been proven to be inconclusive, and unstable, Carl Collins still receives millions of dollars per year in funding, when Nobel Prize winning scientists say that a million is a generous amount. ?
Highly interesting topic discussing the formation of "strange" ideas into weapons and the process of when and how a weapon becomes a weapon, rather than just a strange idea.