Parallel worlds (almost)....

[brooksmoses]

I was just looking through recent issues of Physics of Fluids (the American Institute of Physics' journal on fluid flow, and one of the better journals in my research field), looking to see if anything of interest had been published recently. Among the articles that I found was a rather theoretical one concerning the motion of certain types of bubbles -- a derivation which isn't likely to be directly useful, but is nonetheless interesting and the methods might be applicable.

I did a double-take when I saw the author's affiliation: The Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission.

I'm ... not really quite sure what to make of that, I think.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I think that agency has existed since the Eisenhower administration came up with the Atoms For Peace program. Iraq has had an openly acknowledged atomic energy program for a long time. The problem was with the atomic weapons program.

[brooksmoses]

*nods* I got an impression of that when I did a bit of google search to see what they were; there are some of their older annual reports that alluded to such things.

I think a large part of my reaction was that it's one thing to know that Iraq wasn't really the uncivilized backwater that it sometimes gets portrayed as, and another to get very pointedly reminded that it was very much a part of the global community in a way that directly impacted my life. That, and the acceptance date on the paper was last March, right in the midst of it all....