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| 1941: Campbell on Radioactive "Death Dust" Weapon in PIC https://heinleinsociety.org/thsnexus/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1628 |
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| Author: | beamjockey [ Mon Jun 15, 2015 4:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | 1941: Campbell on Radioactive "Death Dust" Weapon in PIC |
I was just looking at an interesting 2014 discussion which I probably should have mentioned here. Alex Wellerstein's fascinating Restricted Data blog, devoted to the history of nuclear secrecy and related matters, discovered by researcher Gene Dannen. John W. Campbell, Jr. wrote "Is Death Dust America’s Secret Weapon?" in the July 1941 issue of Pic. This was not long after he was kicking around ideas with Heinlein that became his death-dust story, "Solution Unsatisfactory." In 2014 a bunch of us found this intriguing, and there's a great conversation in the comments, including remarks by Heinlein's biographer Bill Patterson, written about a month before Bill's untimely death. If this sounds interesting, click the link above. |
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| Author: | mostlyclassics [ Tue Jun 16, 2015 11:38 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 1941: Campbell on Radioactive "Death Dust" Weapon in PIC |
Bill, this post came to me a few weeks after I read the exchanges between Heinlein and Campbell in the Virginia Edition's Letters, Volume I. Thanks for the extra background. |
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| Author: | RobertPearson [ Wed Jul 01, 2015 1:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 1941: Campbell on Radioactive "Death Dust" Weapon in PIC |
I'd add that the entire "Restricted Data" blog is absolutely fascinating, at least to someone of my interests. Reading the complete archive is a lot more entertaining than anything you will find on TV... |
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| Author: | PeterScott [ Thu Jul 02, 2015 12:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 1941: Campbell on Radioactive "Death Dust" Weapon in PIC |
Interesting aside in the comments that basically we have Campbell to thank for the title and essential plot pivot of Solution Unsatisfactory. (That it was previously submitted as Foreign Policy, and Campbell found the presented solution weak and unsatisfactory, and suggested framing the story around that very fact.) |
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| Author: | beamjockey [ Fri Jul 03, 2015 8:17 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 1941: Campbell on Radioactive "Death Dust" Weapon in PIC |
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