Robert P. Crease
The Leak: Politics, Activists, and Loss of Trust at Brookhaven National Laboratory
(with Peter Bond, MIT Press, 2022).
Wednesday, March 27, 2024, 5:00 pm
Simons Center Lecture Hall 102
Reception at 4:30 pm, Simons Center Lobby
A quarter-century ago, a nonhazardous leak led to permanent closure of a valuable research reactor at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The campaign to terminate it included conspiracy theories, misinformation, and political ambition—before the age of social media. The episode’s details offer insights into political vulnerabilities of large scientific facilities.
Robert P. Crease is a philosopher and historian of science in the Philosophy Department at Stony Brook University. In 2021 he won the William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal for “describing key humanities concepts for scientists, and explaining the significance of key scientific ideas for humanists.” For 25 years has written a monthly column, “Critical Point,” for Physics World. His books include The Leak: Politics, Activism, and Loss of Trust at Brookhaven National Laboratory (with Peter Bond, MIT Press, 2022), and his edited books include Between Science and Industry: Institutions in the History of Materials Science (World Scientific, 2024).
Featured photo of Robert Crease by Michael Drakopoulos
