One of the panels at the conference will explore the social impact of the atom.
The Prince Takamado Japan Centre and the Department of History and Classics present an international conference, '70 Years After Hiroshima: Conceptualizing Nuclear Issues in Global Contexts', commemorating the 70th anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan. The conference will take place in the Telus Centre on September 18-19th.
Moving beyond the question of the first use of the atomic bomb in World War II, the speakers will also analyze the relationship between humans and the atom in the 70 years since. What lessons can Japan's experience offer to the world? How should we deal with nuclear proliferation and establish and promote a safer world? How can we best harness nuclear energy? How is the atom represented in popular culture and literature, in museums and the collective memory? These are just some of the many important issues the conference aims to address.
A keynote speech by Dr. Ritsuko Komaki, who lived through the reconstruction era in Hiroshima after the dropping of the bomb, will take place at 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm Friday, September 18th in Business 2-09. Dr. Komaki will relate her life story with the negative and positive embodiment of atomic energy and her medical research. Her family home was in Hiroshima when the first atomic bomb was dropped on that city in 1945. She was in Osaka at the time, she moved back to Hiroshima two years later and lived through the reconstruction era of the city. Her life was shaped by the notion of the atom, prompting her to pursue a career as a radiation oncologist.
For more information, please visit: https://events.gobigevent.com:443/events-web-public/event/start/714
For the conference program, please visit: https://events.gobigevent.com/events-web-public/event/custom_page/714?3&tabParam=Program
U of A members are invited to participate free of charge. Please register online: https://events.gobigevent.com/events-web-public/event/selection/714?7
For previews of the event, please visit:
Faculty of Arts: https://www.ualberta.ca/arts/faculty-news/2015/september/70-years-after-hiroshima
U of A News: https://www.folio.ca/living-in-the-shadow-of-the-atom
The event will also be featured in the CBC Radioactive.