From Alchemy to Atomic War

In 1915, Frederick Soddy, later a winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, warned publicly of the future dangers of atomic war. His foresight depended not only upon scientific knowledge, but also upon emotion, creativity, and many sorts of nonscientific knowledge. The latter, which played a role even in the content of Soddys scientific discoveries, included such diverse sources as contemporary politics, history, science fiction, religion, and ancient alchemy. Soddy's story may offer important, guiding insights for today's efforts in technology assessment. As allied and German forces battled on the Continent, an eminent British scientist spoke openly of atomic war. In public lectures addressed to laypersons, he explained that while future energy shortages might be averted by using energy from the atom, the more probable result of the development of atomic power would be mass annihilation by weapons of inconceivable might. The distinguished speakerhandsome, articulate, and obviously worried-was not certain when this would occur. The British government paid no attention to the seeming breach of national security, for no act of treason or even of indiscretion had been committed: The German troops were those of the Kaiser, and the year was 1915. The speaker, 38-year-old Frederick Soddy, had recently