Confronting the Bomb: Pakistani and Indian Scientists Speak Out - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019906833X ISBN 13: 9780199068333

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2013

Synopsis

Authored by scientists from both sides of the Pakistan-India divide, 'Confronting the Bomb' fearlessly explores tabooed, but urgent, nuclear issues. Concerned citizens, policy makers, and nuclear experts are presented with a rich range of complexities, political and semi-technical. Beginning with the coming of the atomic age to India, and later to Pakistan, the book looks at the furious nuclear racing after the 1998 nuclear tests. What are the principal drivers and where lies the future? It goes on to examine Pakistan's changing strategic nuclear objectives, the Kargil conflict, and the fact that ownership of the bomb is now claimed by Islamic political parties. The worrying issue of the safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is considered in the background of an ideological divide within the military. The somewhat more technical articles deal with early warning issues, the battlefield use of nuclear weapons, problems related to the fissile materials treaty, and the likely effects of a limited nuclear exchange between Pakistan and India. Two essays deal with nuclear electricity generation, making the point that this may not be the promised panacea for the subcontinent's energy problem. Rejecting nuclear nationalism, this is a unique work by Pakistanis and Indians working together to warn of nuclear dangers.

About this title

About the Author

Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy has taught at the department of physics at Quaid-e-Azam University since 1973 and now also teaches at the School of Science and Engineering (LUMS). He received a PhD in nuclear physics from MIT, as well as degrees in mathematics, electrical engineering, and physics from MIT. He was awarded the Abdus Salam Prize for Mathematics, the Baker Award for Electronics, and the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the popularization of science. His research interests lie in theoretical high-energy physics. He was a Council member of Pugwash, and is a sponsor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. As an advocate of the scientific method, he authored 'Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality'. As producer and presenter, he made several documentary series for Pakistan Television aimed at popularizing science as well as for analyzing the Pakistani education system. He heads a book publishing organization in Lahore focusing on modern thought and human rights.

Review

"These searching essays, which carry lessons too awful to contemplate and too realistic to ignore, bring to mind the devastating war which was barely averted during the Cuban missile crisis. India and Pakistan have laboured mightily to bring the nuclear plague to South Asia." --Noam Chomsky, Professor of Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"The scientists who authored this book aren't just ringing alarm bells for people in Pakistan and India. The global community needs to lift its eyes from economic preoccupations and pay attention to the even greater threat of nuclear catastrophe." --The Lord Alderdice, Convenor of the Liberal Democratic Party, House of Lords, Great Britain

"Confronting the Bomb is an excellent and authoritative primer for the debate about one of today's main global problems. The book reads well and treats the topic comprehensively at a suitable length." --Physics Today

"While much has been written about the nuclear bombs of India and Pakistan, there is nothing like the collection of essays entitled Confronting the Bomb." --New York Review of Books

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 019906833X
• ISBN 13: 9780199068333
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 444
• Editor: Hoodbhoy Pervez