Jacob Darwin Hamblin's Blog

I am pleased to announce that my book, The Wretched Atom, was published this summer by Oxford University Press. I will post review snippets and other relevant information on this site. Head over to Amazon, Goodreads, or the OUP site to see more about the book. Here is a description: A groundbreaking narrative of how […]

I’m pleased to announce a special issue of the Journal of the History of Biology (vol. 54, issue 1), which I have guest-edited with my colleague Linda M. Richards.  It focuses on the history of radiation exposure, and it draws together stories of science, activism, art, culture, and struggles over historical narrative. It includes essays […]

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/... Jacob Darwin Hamblin, “Aligning Missions: Nuclear Technical Assistance, the IAEA, and National Ambitions in Pakistan,” History and Technology 36:34 (2020), 437-451. ABSTRACT Drawn from the archives of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the British National Archives, and other sources, the present essay analyzes nuclear technical assistance in central Asia, focusing largely on Pakistan. It […]

I was delighted to co-lead (with Linda Richards) our final workshop for the OSU Downwinders Project this summer. It coincided with the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Due to the pandemic, we had to cancel the flights of our visitors and conduct the workshop over Zoom. The silver lining on that […]

I was delighted to co-lead (with Linda Richards) our final workshop for the OSU Downwinders Project this summer. It coincided with the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Due to the pandemic, we had to cancel the flights of our visitors and conduct the workshop over Zoom. The silver lining on that…

“An American Miracle in the Desert: Environmental Crisis and Nuclear-Powered Desalination in the Middle East,” in Nature and the Iron Curtain: Environmental Policy and Social Movements in Communist and Capitalist Countries, 1945-1990, edited by Astrid Mignon Kirchhoff and J. R. McNeill (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019), 205-218. On the book: In Nature and the Iron Curtain, […]

I’m delighted to be part of this Downwinders Project at Oregon State University. I’m posting the call for papers of an event to be held in June 2019, but please visit the site dedicated to that project too. Call for Papers Workshop: “Ways of Knowing and Radiation Exposure.” June 19-21, 2019 (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday)…

Rogue science, Twitter wars, EPA Trojan horses, and of course, the man who wants to build The Wall. But there may be more important walls to consider, and the problem may be more long-lasting than we think. The journal Environmental History is running a forum of peer-reviewed short essays on history’s role amid political uncertainty. […]

Rogue science, Twitter wars, EPA Trojan horses, and of course, the man who wants to build The Wall. But there may be more important walls to consider, and the problem may be more long-lasting than we think. The journal Environmental History is running a forum of peer-reviewed short essays on history’s role amid political uncertainty.…

I sent this email out today. Want to be involved in some way? Please get in touch. Friends and colleagues, Linda Richards, Anna Dvorak (PhD student in History of Science) and I have proposed a project to the National Science Foundation related to the Hanford Downwinders case, a controversial topic touching many lives in our region. It…