Restricted Data

A nuclear history blog and digital humanities project created by historian Alex Wellerstein that explores the history of nuclear weapons, nuclear secrecy, and the classification systems that govern access to nuclear information. The blog publishes in-depth articles analysing declassified documents, historical events, policy decisions, and cultural impacts of nuclear weapons programmes, written with academic rigour but accessible to general readers interested in history, science policy, and international relations. The project's flagship interactive tool lets users simulate the effects of nuclear detonations on any location worldwide, providing estimates of thermal radiation, blast radius, fallout patterns, and casualty figures based on publicly available scientific models. The simulator has been used extensively in education, journalism, and policy discussions, making abstract nuclear weapon effects tangible and comprehensible. The blog also features document archives with commentary, visualising the evolution of nuclear classification standards, and tracking changes in government secrecy practices over decades. Historical articles cover topics such as the Manhattan Project, nuclear testing programmes, Cold War nuclear strategy, proliferation concerns, and the cultural representation of nuclear weapons in media and popular culture. The site is maintained as a scholarly resource with citations to primary sources and academic publications. The platform is suitable for historians, students, policy analysts, journalists, and anyone interested in understanding the history and ongoing relevance of nuclear weapons.