Posted on 12/01/2010 9:46:50 AM PST by Borges
Samuel T. Cohen, the physicist who invented the small tactical nuclear weapon known as the neutron bomb, a controversial device designed to kill enemy troops with subatomic particles but leave battlefields and cities relatively intact, died on Sunday at his home in Los Angeles. . He was 89.
The cause was complications of stomach cancer, his son Paul said.
Unlike J. Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller, the respective fathers of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, Mr. Cohen was not well known outside government and scientific circles, although his work for years influenced the international debate over the deployment and potential uses of nuclear arms.
In contrast to strategic warheads, which can kill millions and level cities, and smaller short-range tactical nuclear arms designed to wipe out battlefield forces, the neutron bomb minimized blast and heat. Instead, it maximized a barrage of infinitesimal neutrons that zipped through tanks, buildings and other structures and killed people, usually by destroying the central nervous system, and all other life forms.
While doubters questioned the usefulness, logic and ethics of killing people and sparing property, Mr. Cohen called his bomb a “sane” and “moral” weapon that could limit death, destruction and radioactive contamination, targeting combatants while leaving civilians and towns unscathed. He insisted that many critics misunderstood or purposely misrepresented his ideas for political, economic or mercenary reasons.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Hmmmm, could that thing be focused on just the NYT bldg?
‘Twould raise the country’s IQ by a measurable amount.
The Russians called it the perfect Capitalist weapon. It would kill people and leave property in tact.
Wheres the Headline ???
“Neutron Bomb Inventor Dies at 89”
My bad. Could someone put the headline in please?
Cinton/Gore probably sold his work to China for re-election campaign donations. Maybe that’s what was on Los Alamos’ missing hard drives under “big Bill” Richarsesons’ DOE watch.
Can't say "global warming" anymore because it's been debunked??? Now what?
Hmmmm....perhaps "global climate warming"???
No??? How about "global climate change"???
Not that either??? How about just "climate change"???
That's ok??? but hasn't the climate been in constant change since the beginning of the earth???
OK...how about just "climate"????
There! That should work!
Back to your bottle, al....we got it now!!!!
So even though his brain is dead, is his body left standing?
(really, prayers for the family)
He’s dead, but the building he was in, is still standing.
Was he driving a green Chevy Malibu?
RIP.
It in no way “spared property”. The explosive yield of the typical “neutron bomb” was thousands of times larger than the OKC bomb, which as we all know was unkind to property.
It was similar in yield to the Davy Crockett device, but was slower in operation and produced lots of neutrons (shifted neutron-to-gamma ratio).
He would have been but the car got repossessed.
True. Here is a link for basic information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_bomb
As noted in the “walking ghost” comment at the end of the entry, even the fatally irradiated persons might stay functional and not die for a long period after the explosion (days, weeks, months).
Unmentioned in the entry is what effect all that neutron radiation would have on the structures left behind. In terms of decontamination, it might have been nearly as bad as a pure fission bomb.
one purpose was to use against an invading army ... say if Soviets invaded Germany ... would not leave the land with nuclear contamination. You don’t want to use conventional nukes against troops that are on your territory.
(think Mexican border.)
I think the only countries that still have them are China and Israel.
No pulse, but his Timex is still ticking.
"Radiation! Yes, indeed!"
I once met Sam Cohen. He grew up on the east side of Los Angeles—either Boyle Heights or East LA. He told me that when he was young, he would often go to the Whittier Theater, a palatial movie theater in my home town of Whittier, to watch films.
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