How An Algorithm Could Have Stopped The Nuclear Arms Race

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The Fast Fourier Transform is used everywhere but it has a fascinating origin story that could have ended the nuclear arms race. This video is sponsored by 80,000 Hours. Head to http://80000hours.org/veritasium to sign up for their newsletter and get sent a free copy of their in-depth career guide. A huge thank you to Dr. Richard Garwin for taking the time to speak with us. Thanks to Dr. Steve Brunton of the University of Washington for his help with understanding the Fast Fourier Transform. Thanks to Dr. Cliff Thurber of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Paul Richards of Columbia University, and Dr. Steven Gibbons of the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute for their expertise. Thanks to Grant Sanderson of 3Blue1Brown for his helpful feedback on the script. His great video on the Fourier Transform is here - https://youtu.be/spUNpyF58BY ??? References: Kristensen, H.M., Korda, M. (2022). Status of World Nuclear Forces. Federation of American Scientists (FAS). https://ve42.co/Stockpile2022 Barth, K. H. (1998). Science and politics in early nuclear test ban negotiations. Physics Today, 51(3), 34-39. - https://ve42.co/Barth1998 Schmalberger, T. (1991). In pursuit of a nuclear test ban treaty - https://ve42.co/Schmalberger1991 Bowers, D., & Selby, N. D. (2009). Forensic seismology and the comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 37, 209-236 - https://ve42.co/Bowers2009 Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS). (2022). How Often Do Earthquakes Occur? https://ve42.co/IRIS2022 Kimball, D. (2022). The Nuclear Testing Tally. Arms Control Association. https://ve42.co/TestTally2022 Kværna, T., & Ringdal, F. (2013). Detection capability of the seismic network of the International Monitoring System for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 103(2A), 759-772 - https://ve42.co/Kvrna2013 Sykes, L. R., & Evernden, J. F. (1982). The verification of a comprehensive nuclear test ban. Scientific American, 247(4), 47-55 - https://ve42.co/Sykes1982 Peterson, J., & Hutt, C. R. (2014). World-wide standardized seismograph network: a data users guide (p. 82). US Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey. - https://ve42.co/Peterson2014 Richards, P. G., & Kim, W. Y. (2009). Monitoring for nuclear explosions. Scientific American, 300(3), 70-77 - https://ve42.co/Richards2009 Jacobsen, L. L., Fedorova, I., & Lajus, J. (2021). The seismograph as a diplomatic object: The Soviet�American exchange of instruments, 1958�1964. Centaurus, 63(2), 277-295 - https://ve42.co/Jacobsen2021 Schwartz S. I. (1998). The Hidden Costs Of Our Nuclear Arsenal: Overview Of Project Findings. The Brookings Institution - https://ve42.co/Schwartz1998 Ricón, J.L. (2016). The Soviet Union: Military Spending. Nintil - https://ve42.co/Nintil2016 Heideman, M. T., Johnson, D. H., & Burrus, C. S. (1985). Gauss and the history of the fast Fourier transform. Archive for history of exact sciences, 265-277 - https://ve42.co/Heideman1985 Ford, D. (2004). Richard Garwin - Session IV. American Institute of Physics (AIP). - https://ve42.co/Ford2004 Aaserud, F. (1986). Richard Garwin - Session I. American Institute of Physics (AIP). - https://ve42.co/Aaserud1986 Goldstein, A. (1997). James W. Cooley, an oral history. IEEE History Center, Piscataway, NJ, USA - https://ve42.co/Goldstein1997 Cooley, J., Garwin, R., Rader, C., Bogert, B., & Stockham, T. (1969). The 1968 Arden House workshop on fast Fourier transform processing. IEEE Transactions on Audio and Electroacoustics, 17(2), 66-76 - https://ve42.co/Cooley1969 ??? Special thanks to Patreon supporters: Louis Lebbos, Elliot MIller, RayJ Johnson, Brian Busbee, Jerome Barakos M.D., Amadeo Bee, TTST, Balkrishna Heroor, Chris LaClair, John H. Austin, Jr., OnlineBookClub.org, Matthew Gonzalez, Eric Sexton, John Kiehl, Diffbot, Gnare, Dave Kircher, Burt Humburg, Blake Byers, Dumky, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Josh Hibschman, Mac Malkawi, Mike Schneider, John Bauer, jim buckmaster, Juan Benet, Sunil Nagaraj, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Stephen Wilcox, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Michael Krugman, Cy 'kkm' K'Nelson, Sam Lutfi, Ron Neal ??? Written by Derek Muller & Felicity Nelson Filmed by Derek Muller & Raquel Nuno Animation by Ivy Tello, Jakub Misiek, Alex Drakoulis, and Fabio Albertelli Edited by Albert Leung & Derek Muller Research Assistant: Katie Barnshaw Additional video/photos supplied by Pond5 and Getty Images Music from Epidemic Sound Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, and Emily Zhang