TURING'S CATHEDRAL NOTES

George Dyson
 

Ulam’s Demons

The idea of nuclear propulsion of space vehicles was born as soon as nuclear energy became a reality,” he explains.  While others who visited the Trinity test site marveled at how the shot tower had been vaporized by the explosion, Ulam observed that the steel reinforcement at the base of the tower had survived the explosion intact.  Perhaps objects caught within the fireball could survive the explosion and even be propelled somewhere else.  The question of whether the energy produced by a small fission explosion could be channeled outward to drive the propulsion of a space vehicle was similar to the question of whether this energy could be channeled inward to drive the implosion of a thermonuclear bomb.  Ulam’s idea was the hydrogen bomb turned inside out.

 

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