THE GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE CENTENNIAL FORUM

In 1946 to commemorate the centennial of George Westinghouse’s birth, the Westinghouse Educational Foundation organized a forum in Pittsburgh.

Titled Science and Life in the World, The Future of Atomic Energy, the three-day event brought together dozens of distinguished scientists for a symposium to discuss the topic, less than a year after World War II was ended with atomic bombs.

The remarks of ten speakers at the forum, including J. Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi, were gathered together into a book that was published by McGraw-Hill.

THE FUTURE OF ATOMIC ENERGY has been reprinted by Legare Street Press, and copies are available at Amazon and other on-line book sellers.

The remarks made that day by J. Robert Oppenheim, A Future for Atomic Weapons, are presented here. It is a precient piece, and may be even more meaningful today than when presented.

Writing at the dawn of the atomic era, Dr. Oppenheimer forsees both the potential risks and rewards of this new form of energy, and he speculates on how the nations of the world might organize to use it safely.

“There is only one future for atomic explosives that I can regard with any enthusiasm: that they should never be used in war.”