“The Basic Power of the Universe”: the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 Years Later

Eighty years ago in August, the United States detonated two nuclear bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing in excess of two hundred thousand civilians in the days and months that followed—with the deaths of those living in the vicinity of nuclear test sites only adding to the tremendous toll. Though never since deployed as a weapon in international conflict, the reality of nuclear technology not only reconfigured the postwar world’s social, political, and philosophical frames of reference but catalyzed mass protest movements, recast geopolitical alliances, inaugurated a new regime of existential risk management, provided new fodder for the apocalyptic imagination, and created a great deal of value for the owners of these catastrophic means of production.

Join us Thursday, July 31st, as we sit down with an interdisciplinary cast of BISR faculty to explore the manifold legacies of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings 80 years on. Physicist Alfred Lee, US historian Jude Webre, political theorist Suzanne Schneider, feminist historian Hannah Leffingwell, and visual and critical theorist Isi Litke will take up the bomb and all of its baggage to ask: Who gets to own nuclear weapons—and what justifies that ownership? Who is permitted to proliferate—and on what moral or political authority? What is the technical difference between nuclear energy and nuclear weaponry—and is the murkiness of this distinction perhaps part of the point? What was the effect of nuclear technology on the forms and strategies of activist protest—and along what lines of alliance? How did the bomb take up residence in our cultural imaginary? And what are we to make of the discursive parallels between the nuclear arms race of the 20th century and the AI race of today?

The event is free with a suggested $10 donation. As usual, wine, beer, seltzer, and snacks will be served. Please RSVP below.

Event Schedule

Thursday, 6:30pm ET
July 31, 2025

$0.00

Event is over. Check out our upcoming events.