ABSTRACT

This analysis charts the emergence of a distinct British nuclear culture during the early post-war years and investigates the various forms of influence that the United States exercised on its development. Beginning with a disastrous breakdown of transatlantic nuclear co-operation in 1946, it establishes the true degree of sovereignty enjoyed by Britain’s nuclear engineers as they navigated a new relationship with a senior partner that acted simultaneously as a vital knowledge donor and commercial competitor. The analysis next highlights how competition with Washington’s vast atomic project only magnified the pre-existing appreciation of thrift engrained in British physicists, in turn causing them to develop an institutional self-image that prized nuclear capabilities more for their technical integrity than their political convenience. In this way, Britain’s atomic specialists identified a role for themselves as the spiritual guardians of a technology that was just beginning to embark upon a global journey.

摘要

该分析描绘了战后早期英国独特的核文化的出现，并调查了美国对其发展施加的各种形式的影响。从 1946 年跨大西洋核合作的灾难性崩溃开始，它确立了英国核工程师在与同时充当重要知识捐助者和商业竞争对手的高级合作伙伴建立新关系时所享有的真实程度的主权。接下来的分析强调了与华盛顿庞大的原子项目的竞争如何只会放大英国物理学家早已存在的对节俭的欣赏，进而导致他们形成一种制度性的自我形象，更看重核能力的技术完整性而不是政治便利。这样，