A Physicist Asked for a Recipe to Simulate an Atomic Explosion

James Tuck, a physicist associated with Los Alamos Laboratory, wrote a letter asking for a recipe for simulating an atomic explosion. He wasn’t asking to set one off. He wanted the instructions used to create a simulation.

His request grew out of an interest in large atmospheric vortices, or swirling currents of air. Tuck had read about them in a book on UFO research. A book about phenomena in the sky had led a physicist to ask how to simulate an atomic explosion.

The Request in the Letter

In a letter written in the 1970s, Tuck referred to a conversation that had taken place earlier that day. Afterward, he asked for the recipe used to simulate atomic explosions. He said his interest was connected to large atmospheric vortices described in a book by Edward Condon.

The request is clear, but the connection between the two subjects is not. Tuck doesn’t explain what the recipe involved or how simulating an explosion might help explain swirling air currents. He simply links his interest in vortices to his request for a simulation. That’s all the letter says about why he asked.

The Book Behind the Request

Condon’s book examined the scientific study of unidentified flying objects. Tuck didn’t say that the vortices had actually been observed or that they were caused by an explosion. He referred to them as described in the book and said they were relevant to his interest.

The surviving correspondence also includes another letter, about a report on ball lightning, a phenomenon that appears as a ball of light. That letter mentions a different book about UFOs but doesn’t connect it to Tuck’s request. The account therefore centers on his request and the vortices he had read about.

What We Still Don’t Know

It’s unclear whether Tuck received the recipe, what it contained, or whether the simulation helped him understand the vortices. Parts of the record are redacted, and it doesn’t explain the practical connection between simulating an explosion and air currents.

What remains on paper is an unusual request: a recipe for a simulation, prompted by vortices described in a book about UFOs.