Atomic Energy

Plutonium: A History of the World’s Most Dangerous Element

Guest: Jeremy Bernstein.

The element plutonium was first manufactured in the laboratory at Berkeley in 1941. There was so little of it that it was impossible to see with the naked eye. Now we face a much different problem—we've produced so much that we don't know how to get rid of it. This morning on Focus, we'll explore the history of this dangerous element with physicist Jeremy Bernstein, who will explain how despite its humble start as a laboratory novelty, plutonium soon became the most destructive weapon the world had ever known.

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