From Gods to : How Scientists Shaped War & Peace

Fateful decisions, like creating and using the atomic bomb, were made with a scientific hubris by those who believed they could assess the risks. While not all decisions can be made democratically, humanity should consider the risks of extinction. A lesser-known event involved detonating atomic weapons in space during the late 1950s and early 1960s to study their electromagnetic pulse effects on communications, conducted without public knowledge. A witness recalled seeing a deep red glow in the night sky at MIT in 1958.