Socio-Political Reflections and Civil Defense

260 Pages·1998·25.602 MB·English

by  Conrad Chester (auth.), Jagdish Mehra (eds.)

The Collected Works of Eugene Paul Wigner
Part B . Volume VIII
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH
Eugene Paul Wigner
The Collected Works of Eugene Paul Wigner
Part A
The Scientific Papers
Editor: Arthur Wightman
Annotated by
Nandor Balazs Herman Feshbach Brian Judd Walter Kohn
George Mackey Jagdish Mehra Abner Shimony Alvin Weinberg
Arthur Wightman
Part B
Historical, Philosophical, and
Socio-Political Papers
Editor: J agdish Mehra
Annotated by
Conrad Chester Gerard Emch Jagdish Mehra
The Collected Works of Eugene Paul Wigner
Part A
The Scientific Papers
Volume I
Part I: Eugene Paul Wigner - A Biographical Sketch
Part II: Applied Group Theory 1926-1935
Part III: The Mathematical Papers
Volume II
Nuclear Physics
Volume III
Part I: Particles and Fields
Part II: Foundations of Quantum Mechanics
Volume IV
Part I: Physical Chemistry
Part II: Solid State Physics
Volume V
Nuclear Energy:
Part I: Eugene Wigner and Nuclear Energy
Part II: Memoir of the Uranium Project
Part III: Articles, Reports, and Memoranda on Nuclear Energy
Part IV: The Wigner Patents
Part B
Historical, Philosophical, and Socio-Political Papers
Volume VI
Philosophical Reflections and Syntheses
Volume VII
Historical and Biographical Reflections and Syntheses
Volume VIII
Socio-Political Reflections and Civil Defense
The Collected Works of
Eugene Paul Wigner
Part B
Historical, Philosophical, and
Socio-Political Papers
Volume VIII
Socio-Political Reflections
and Civil Defense
Annotated by Conrad Chestert
Edited by Jagdish Mehra
Springer
Jagdish Mehra
The Jagdish Mehra Collection
University of Houston
6043 South Loop East
Houston, TX 77033-1041, USA
Conrad Chestert
formerlyat
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
The photogrnph of E. P. Wigner on page II is reproduced from page 24 of the original article
"Atoms, Arms & Apathy" (an interview with E. P. Wigner by Earl T. Tildon)
published in the Journal of Civil Defense 12, 24-27 (Nov.-Dec. 1977)
Library 01' Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Oma
(Revised for A, v.l, pt.I-3)
Wigner, Eugene Paul, 1902-. The collected works of Eugene Paul Wigner.
Includes bibliographieal references.
Contems: pt. A. The scientific papers - v. I, pt. I. A biographieal sketchlby Jagdish Mehra.
pt. 2. Applied group theory 1926-35 annotatedlby Srian Judd.
pt. 3. Mathemntical papers annotatedlby George Mackey -
- v. 5. Nuclear energy. I. Mathematical physics. I. Weinberg, Alvin Martin, 1915-. 11. Title
QCI9.3.W54 1992 530 92-38376
ISBN 978-3-642-63765-0 ISBN 978-3-642-58862-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-58862-4
This work is ,ubject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or pan of the material is concerned, specifical
Iy the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm 01' in any
other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions
of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained
from Springer-Verlag. Violations are liable for prosecution under the German Copyright Law.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1998
Originally pnblished by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York in 1998
Softcover reprint of tbe hardcover 1st edition 1998
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the ab
sence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore
free for general use.
Typesetting of the annotation and the reset contributions: Springer TEX in-house system
SPIN 10121989 55/3143 - 5 432 I 0 - Printed on acid-free paper
Editors' Preface
The papers have been divided, necessarily somewhat arbitrarily, into two parts
Part A: The Scientific Papers
Part B: Historical, Philosophical, and Socio-Political Papers
Within each part, the papers have been divided by subject, and within each
subject printed chronologically. With some exceptions, every scientific paper is
reprinted in its original form. One class of exceptions consists of papers that
are simply translations into Hungarian from German or English; they are omit
ted, but listed in the bibliographies. Scientific papers originally in Hungarian
have been translated into English. Some of the papers of Volume V / Part III,
Articles, Reports, and Memoranda on Nuclear Energy, have been reset and the
figures redrawn. The originals were declassified reports, some in nearly illegible
shape. Some reports and patents in Volume V / Part III and Part IV are listed
by title only. In contrast to the scientific papers where the coverage is essentially
complete, in Part B, a selection has been made. We believe it is representative
of Wigner's far ranging concerns. The five books in which Wigner was involved
as author, co-author, or lecturer are not reprinted in The Collected Works, but
are noted b the annotations and bibliographies.
After the publication of Volume I, V, and VI of The Collected Works,
Eugene Wigner died (1 January 1995). The heirs of his estate have donated his
scientific papers and correspondence to Princeton University where they are
available to researchers at
The Eugene P. Wigner Papers
Manuscripts Division
Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
Princeton University Libraries
Springer-Verlag and the co-editors of The Collected Works intend to give to
Princeton University for inclusion in this collection, whatever scientific papers
are left over after the publication of The Collected Works is complete.
Jagdish Mehra
Arthur S. Wightman
Contents
Wigner on Civil Defense
Annotation by Conrad Chester ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PART I
Exploring the Technology 1960-1964
Fallout: Criticism of a Criticism ....................................... 19
Recall the Ends - While Pondering Means ............................. 22
Why Civil Defense .................................................... 26
Letter on Article by Wiesner and york............. ... ................. 30
Civil Defense. Address to the Mercer County, New Jersey
Civil Defense and Disaster Control Organization, May 26, 1964 ...... 35
Civil Defense - Project Harbor Summary Report (Foreword) ........... 42
PART II
The Age of MADness 1964-1969
Civil Defense: Wigner on Project Harbor .............................. 47
The Possible Effectiveness of Civil Defense. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Civil Defense and Disarmament ....................................... 74
Address on Civil Defense at Executive Offices Building
on April 21, 1967 ................................................... 76
Defense from Nuclear Attack (Remarks on Stuart Chase's Statement) ., 81
Nuclear War and Civil Defense ........................................ 83
Roadblocks to Civil Defense ........................................... 98
Civil Defense - Little Harbor Report (Preface) ......................... 100
Defense vs. Retaliation ................................................ 103
The Objectives of Civil Defense ....................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 109
X Contents
PART III
The Soviets Deploy an Effective Civil Defense System:
Urban Evacuation 1969-1976
The Myth of "Assured Destruction" ................................... 133
Blast Shelter Effectiveness and Cost ................................... 136
Why Civil Defence - 1970 ............................................. 138
Military Research and Development (with R. K. Adair) ................. 142
Will Soviet Civil Defense Undermine SALT? (with J. Gailar) ........... 144
Without Civil Defense We Are in ... A Glass House (with A. A. Broyles
and E. Teller) ....................................................... 150
Excerpts from E. Wigner's Address to the USCDC Conference,
St. Paul ........ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 152
Russian Evacuation Plans - the Fears They Create (with J. S. Gailar) .. 158
Civil Defense in the Soviet Union (with J. S. Gailar) .................... 160
Population Vulnerability: The Neglected Issue in Arms Limitation
and the Strategic Balance (with C. V. Chester) ...................... 163
Civil Defense in Limited War - A Debate. In Favor: A. A. Broyles
and E. P Wigner. Opposed: S. D. Drell ............. . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . .. 170
Surviving a Nuclear War (with C. M. Haaland) ......................... 186
More on Civil Defense ................................................. 188
PART IV
The U. S. Government Discovers
Soviet Civil Defense 1976-1979
Civil Preparedness and Limited Nuclear War .......................... 195
Soviet Civil Defense (with C. H. Kearny) ............................... 200
Must We Leave Our People Unprotected Against an Attack?
(with R. N. Thurmer) ............................................... 202
Defense of Cities by Antiballistic Missiles (with C. M. Haaland) ......... 205
Soviet Nuclear Strategy ............................................... 223
We Heartily Disagree (with A. A. Broyles) .............................. 224
Atoms, Arms, and Apathy (An Interview by E. T. Tildon) .............. 229
America Needs a Better Civil Defense Program (with E. Teller) ........ 234
PART V
Recapitulation 1979-1983
Civil Defence in USA and Elsewhere ................................... 239
Education - Key to Civil Defense Success .............................. 245
A Case for Civil Defense .......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 249
Two Remarks (Nuclear Blackmail and My Hope) ...................... 251
Contents XI
Bibliography
Papers Reprinted in This Volume ...................................... 253
Papers on Cl Related Topic Reprinted in Another Volume
of The Collected Works ............................................. 256
Papers on Related Topics Not Reprinted in The Collected Works....... 256