Abstract

This article is a sample of science and technology stories about the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, drawn principally from popular magazines which reported nuclear news in the 1940s and 1950s. It shows that many of the accounts were widely optimistic and sensational in their claims about the potential uses of nuclear power, and suggests the reasons for the sensationalism and overconfidence in science and technology. The concluding section discusses the general implications for the present and future popularization of science and technology journalism and communication.