Fingerprints of the Nuclear Age
A seminar held during Unearthing the Present
AC-CS #49097
The spike in artificial radiation from nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s might mark the beginning of the Anthropocene. These radioactive products have left their residues in soil, sediment, ice, and even our bodies. How is it possible to measure, let alone visualize, these invisible, minuscule amounts of radiation that escape all sensory data? The materials gathered below are from the seminar Fingerprints of the Nuclear Age, which was held during Unearthing the Present in May 2022. The seminar explored how the (in)visibility of radiation is linked to the legacy of the nuclear age, histories of public fear, political secrecy, and counter-expertise.
Read MoreFingerprints of the Nuclear Age — seminar photographs
Radiation: Fingerprints of the Nuclear Age — Presentation
Alpha Spectrum Video
Banana Equivalent Dose
Cloud Chamber film
Carbon-14 Dating: Sample to Age
Radiation: Fear and Trust
Trace Evidence: Hydrology
Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent is a French philosopher and historian of science and technology. She focuses particularly on the histories of chemistry and materials science.
Andy Cundy is Professor of Environmental Radioactivity, and Research Director of the University consultancy and research unit GAU-Radioanalytical, in the School of Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton.
Irka Hajdas is a geochronologist using radiocarbon dating as a chronometer applied in climate research, environmental studies, archaeology, cultural heritage, and forensics.
Susan Schuppli is an artist-researcher based in the UK whose work examines material evidence from war and conflict to environmental disasters and climate change.
Colin Waters is Chair of the Anthropocene Working Group of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy. He is honorary Professor at the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Leicester.
Please cite as: Cundy, A, B Bensaude-Vincent, I Hajdas, S Schuppli and C Waters (2022) Fingerprints of the Nuclear Age. In: Rosol C and Rispoli G (eds) Anthropogenic Markers: Stratigraphy and Context, Anthropocene Curriculum. Berlin: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. DOI: 10.58049/z2n5-fs27
Between 2013-2022 the Anthropocene Curriculum was developed by Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW, Berlin) and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG, Berlin), in collaboration with many partners worldwide. The website archive is now maintained by the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology.