Courses/CS 461/Museum of unintended consequences/Military and Civil Research

From CSWiki

The foundation and establishment of the Nobel Prizes was an unintended consequence of military research by Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. He never intented to fund and donate a scientific prize in the first place. Only after he became rich with explosives he realized the full effects of his inventions (see "A Most Damnable Invention : Dynamite, Nitrates, and the Making of the Modern World" by Stephen Bown, Thomas Dunne Booksm, 2005).

On the other hand scientific research leads naturally to unpredictable military applications and unintended weapons. Atomic, biological and chemical weapons are in the broader sense an unintended consequence of intensive research in nuclear physics, biology and chemisty.

--JFromm 09:48, 3 January 2006 (PST)