Alex Wellerstein on Twitter

@wellerstein

Historian of science, secrecy, and nuclear weapons. Professor of STS at @FollowStevens. UC Berkeley alum with a Harvard PhD. NUKEMAP creator. Coder and web dev.

Hoboken, NJ / NYC

Joined September 2011

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Derek Lyons‏ @DerekL1963 31 Dec 2017

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Replying to @Casillic

Double dets per lens? I wonder what's up with that.

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Radio & Nukes‏ @HamWa07 31 Dec 2017

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Replying to @DerekL1963 @Casillic

Same as the US device as far as I know. Redundant maybe?pic.twitter.com/pZjAlY6Te4

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Casillic‏ @Casillic 31 Dec 2017

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Replying to @HamWa07 @DerekL1963

Gadget test nuclear device had instrumentation cabling on it too. The reason for so many cables. Fatman nuclear weapon had only detonator cabling.pic.twitter.com/L13OP8uLB1

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Casillic‏ @Casillic 31 Dec 2017

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Replying to @Casillic @HamWa07 @DerekL1963

Note so on Gadget the detonators are actually the ones with wire coming from the side see attached @NuclearAnthro has a lot of great photo of the detonators and fire set of Fatmanpic.twitter.com/0jHgJAQpef

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Martin “Doomsday” Pfeiffer (⧖) ‏ @NuclearAnthro 31 Dec 2017

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Replying to @Casillic @HamWa07 @DerekL1963

My understanding is that Fat Man also had double dets per lens for redundancy.

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Derek Lyons‏ @DerekL1963 31 Dec 2017

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Replying to @NuclearAnthro @Casillic @HamWa07

Redundant firing circuits, but only one det I should think. Double dets would make detonation symmetry.... interesting. Of course, I could be wrong.

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Martin “Doomsday” Pfeiffer (⧖) ‏ @NuclearAnthro 31 Dec 2017

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Replying to @DerekL1963 @Casillic @HamWa07

I think you’re right but I’m probing. You know what? I SUMMON @wellerstein & @AtomicAnalyst WITH CAT PICTURES! If they are willing and able to answer this question! 64 detonators or 32 on Fat Man? Redundant cabling or detonators?

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Casillic‏ @Casillic 31 Dec 2017

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Replying to @NuclearAnthro @DerekL1963 and

No worries, pretty sure it’s two cable per detonator, 1 detonator per HE len, here’s some of @nuclearanthro awesome pictures of the Fatman fire set and detonator

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Alex Wellerstein‏Verified account @wellerstein 31 Dec 2017

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Replying to @Casillic @NuclearAnthro and

This is a moderately trick question... each lens had a single EBW detonator unit, but each of the detonators of the kind used on Fat Man each had two, redundant bridgewires on it (the "sidearms" of the "handlebar") with separate input from a different fireset.pic.twitter.com/Fz0Zvw3Las

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Radio & Nukes‏ @HamWa07 31 Dec 2017

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Replying to @wellerstein @Casillic and

Where the diagnostic cables checking the timing of the EBW's?

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Alex Wellerstein‏Verified account @wellerstein 31 Dec 2017

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Replying to @HamWa07 @Casillic and

They were for checking detonator simultaneity — they were known as "informer" switches, and would be triggered by the high explosives as they went off.pic.twitter.com/8VatUl9wVV