Our next Zoom discussion on Nuclear Dangers will be with Prof. Martin Hellman and Prof. Benoît Pélopidas on Tuesday, November 29 at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET. Be sure to register HERE!

Professors Martin E. Hellman and Benoît Pelopidas will discuss why luck can not be a viable strategy when it comes to use of nuclear weapons. They will consider the very concept of luck and what it truly means, the evidence of its role in the past, how current doctrines are relying on it today, and what that means for the Ukraine War. Says Prof. Hellman, “Those who discount the risk of the Ukraine War leading to a nuclear war are probably right, but probably is not an adequate assurance when our nation’s survival is at stake.” Join us for what promises to be a provocative discussion.

Martin E. Hellman, Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, is best known for his invention, with Diffie and Merkle, of public key cryptography, the technology that, among other uses, enables secure Internet transactions. He is currentlly focused on Rethinking National Security. Prof. Hellman is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the recipient of the ACM Turing Award, often called “the Nobel Prize of Computer Science.”
Professor Benoît Pélopidas is the founding director of the Nuclear Knowledges program at Sciences Po (CERI) in Paris. He is also an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University. Prof. Pélopidas focuses on the institutional, conceptual, imaginal and memorial underpinnings of nuclear weapons. He has engaged with influencers from all over the world to reconnect democracy, intergenerational justice, and nuclear policy.