In January, President-elect Donald Trump will take control of America’s nuclear arsenal. In a time when nine countries have nuclear weapons, it’s a massive responsibility. But historically, it’s not a responsibility that presidents have borne alone. In the height of the Cold War, US leaders like Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy relied on experienced scientists who had witnessed the devastation caused by nuclear weapons. According to Audra J. Wolfe, a historian of Cold War science, nuclear scientists can help defuse tensions during diplomatic crises. “Scientists can remind the president of the very real damages that those kinds of weapons can do,” she said in an interview. “They can be a voice of reason. They can point to evidence. They can talk about radiation, they can talk about fallout.” In a recent article for The Washington Post, Wolfe looked to history for lessons about this kind of “science diplomacy.” In the 1960s, when the US and Soviet Union were locked in a nucl
