Alex Wellerstein is assistant professor of science and technology studies at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. He is the creator of the online nuclear weapons simulator NUKEMAP.

"It's a stunning achievement: a historical exercise that documents not just all the things we cannot know but all the things we only thought we couldn't know, and which Wellerstein's dogged research has dug out."

• Introduction: The terrible inhibition of the atomPart I. The Birth of Nuclear Secrecy1—The road to secrecy: Chain reactions, 1939–19422—The “best-kept secret of the war”: The Manhattan Project, 1942–19453—Preparing for “Publicity Day”: A wartime secret revealed, 1944–1945Part II. The Cold War Nuclear Secrecy Regime4—The struggle for postwar control, 1944–19475—“Information control” and the Atomic Energy Commission, 1947–19506—Peaceful atoms, dangerous scientists: The paradoxes of Cold War secrecy, 1950–1969Part III. Challenges to Nuclear Secrecy7—Unrestricted data: New challenges to the Cold War secrecy regime, 1964–19788—Secret seeking: Anti-secrecy at the end of the Cold War, 1978–19919—Nuclear secrecy and openness after the Cold WarConclusion: The past and future of nuclear secrecyAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyArchival sources and abbreviationsArticlesBooks and monographsIndex

Alex Wellerstein is assistant professor of science and technology studies at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. He is the creator of the online nuclear weapons simulator NUKEMAP.

"It's a stunning achievement: a historical exercise that documents not just all the things we cannot know but all the things we only thought we couldn't know, and which Wellerstein's dogged research has dug out."

• Introduction: The terrible inhibition of the atomPart I. The Birth of Nuclear Secrecy1—The road to secrecy: Chain reactions, 1939–19422—The “best-kept secret of the war”: The Manhattan Project, 1942–19453—Preparing for “Publicity Day”: A wartime secret revealed, 1944–1945Part II. The Cold War Nuclear Secrecy Regime4—The struggle for postwar control, 1944–19475—“Information control” and the Atomic Energy Commission, 1947–19506—Peaceful atoms, dangerous scientists: The paradoxes of Cold War secrecy, 1950–1969Part III. Challenges to Nuclear Secrecy7—Unrestricted data: New challenges to the Cold War secrecy regime, 1964–19788—Secret seeking: Anti-secrecy at the end of the Cold War, 1978–19919—Nuclear secrecy and openness after the Cold WarConclusion: The past and future of nuclear secrecyAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyArchival sources and abbreviationsArticlesBooks and monographsIndex

Alex Wellerstein is assistant professor of science and technology studies at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. He is the creator of the online nuclear weapons simulator NUKEMAP.

"It's a stunning achievement: a historical exercise that documents not just all the things we cannot know but all the things we only thought we couldn't know, and which Wellerstein's dogged research has dug out."

• Introduction: The terrible inhibition of the atomPart I. The Birth of Nuclear Secrecy1—The road to secrecy: Chain reactions, 1939–19422—The “best-kept secret of the war”: The Manhattan Project, 1942–19453—Preparing for “Publicity Day”: A wartime secret revealed, 1944–1945Part II. The Cold War Nuclear Secrecy Regime4—The struggle for postwar control, 1944–19475—“Information control” and the Atomic Energy Commission, 1947–19506—Peaceful atoms, dangerous scientists: The paradoxes of Cold War secrecy, 1950–1969Part III. Challenges to Nuclear Secrecy7—Unrestricted data: New challenges to the Cold War secrecy regime, 1964–19788—Secret seeking: Anti-secrecy at the end of the Cold War, 1978–19919—Nuclear secrecy and openness after the Cold WarConclusion: The past and future of nuclear secrecyAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyArchival sources and abbreviationsArticlesBooks and monographsIndex