Atomic Express

Artifacts of the Cold War are not limited to piles of rotting concrete or rusting ships. In “Dr. Strangelove” the epynomous character is seen manipluating a circular slide rule proffered by his mechanical hand. That was a real tool called “The Nuclear Bomb Effects Computer.” How else would you measure the effects of a 10 MT ground burst on the ICBM complex at Kurdlosk….once you got the bomb bay doors open? Somebody once told me that Herman Khan‘s kids used to play with the computer and would calculate various nuclear weapons effects on their neighbourhood for fun.

I have one. Here’s what it looks like.

Front:

Back:

From this device the average atomic age Joe could buy the book “The Effects of Nuclear Weapons” from the U.S. Government and calculate what a 20 MT Soviet H-Bomb would do his Levittown-like suburban environment in,  say, Milwaukee or Long Island.  Joe needed to know this to decide how much to harden his Man Cave. See Bill Haley’s take on this.  But what EXACTLY is the Optimum Burst Height?

Disclaimer: “This computer is sold separately by the Superintendent of Documents for $1.00 and is not included in the price of the book, “The Effects of Nuclear Weapons”, which sells for $3.00.”

However, you can download and get your own to save money! Simply go to John Walker’s website….(BTW John Walker founder of Autodesk, Inc. and co-author of AutoCAD). Thanks John!