Atoms for peace

Christopher Nolan had dreamt about this moment for two decades. The envelope opened. One word rang out across the Dolby TheatreAn auditorium in Hollywood, Los Angeles. : "Oppenheimer". The great and good of Hollywood cheered as the British film director finally snatched the Academy AwardHollywood's most prestigious honour, awarded annually since 1929 by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Golden Globes is often seen to predict potential Academy Award winners. for Best Picture.

Oppenheimer reigned at this year's Oscars ceremony on Sunday night, winning the top prize and seven awards in all including Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. After sweeping all the other award shows leading up to the Oscars, the triumph cements Nolan's legacy and the film's significance in cinematic history.

Oppenheimer is an epic biopic that explores the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer: the American physicist who led the development of the atom bomb.

The film was praised on release. The Times' Tom Shone declared it "perilously close to a masterpiece". Critics were won over by its technical prowess, lead actor Cillian Murphy's performance and the importance of its story.¹

It tells a very significant tale indeed. Oppenheimer's actions changed the world forever. In August 1945, the US government dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered shortly after. World War Two ended - at the cost of tens of thousands of peoples' lives.²

Afterwards, countries clamoured to build their own nuclear bombs. The Soviet UnionOfficially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). A powerful group of communist republics, the biggest being Russia, that existed from 1922 to 1991. and the United States entered an arms race, each attempting to have bigger and better arsenals.

As a result, the world is constantly at risk of nuclear war. Some believe the war in Ukraine and the climate crisis have pushed us closer. The Doomsday ClockA symbolic timepiece showing how close the world is to ending. If the clock reached midnight, it would mean annihilation. Every year, scientists adjust the time. is set at 90 seconds to midnight. This means atomic scientists think we are closer to mass destruction than any other time in history.

A single nuclear weapon can destroy a city. There are now around 12,512 nuclear warheads in the world - enough to destroy all life on Earth 55 times over.

Given this, some wonder whether the world would be a better place if they were never invented. They did not need to be. The US Strategic Bombing Survey believed that World War Two would have ended in 1945 without the bombs. Defenders argue that the bombs prevented months more bloodshed.³

Others think nuclear weapons have prevented another world war. The last 80 years have been relatively peaceful.⁴ The Cold WarA period of diplomatic conflict between blocs led by the USA and the USSR that lasted from 1947 until 1991, when the USSR collapsed. was bad. A hot war with countries fighting over the Iron CurtainA political, military and ideological barrier dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War Two until the end of the Cold War in 1991.  would have been much worse.

In 1953, US president Dwight D Eisenhower called for "lasting peace for all nations" by sharing nuclear technology. He wanted countries to focus on its positive possibilities. Nuclear research has led to innovations in renewable energy and healthcare. 

This approach also led other countries to develop their own weapons.⁵ This increases the number of governments who can destroy the world. It also increases the chance of a deadly accident.

Novelist Martin Amis sums up the paradox: "How do we prevent the use of nuclear weapons? By threatening the use of nuclear weapons. And we can't get rid of nuclear weapons, because of nuclear weapons." We are trapped in a nuclear web.

Do nuclear bombs make us safer?

Yes: Once was enough. "Since 1945," writes Historian Yuval Noah Harari, "we have not seen a single case of war between great powers." The threat of nuclear bombs has effectively prevented many conflicts.

No: The cat is out of the bag. Nuclear weapons mean a single person can destroy the world. They may stop some wars. But they will be apocalyptic if a war cannot be stopped.

Or... We will hopefully never have to find out. Meanwhile they hang over our lives. As novelist Arundhati Roy writes: "Nuclear weapons pervade our thinking. Control our behaviour. Inform our dreams."