We don’t get too many international conferences these days with the expectations borne by the International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, held in Geneva in August 1955. (Climate conferences are a modern comparable.) Jerome Lunz, the forthright editor of industry journal Nucleonics, expressed some of the bated breath in an editorial four months prior:
The place to make an impact on the world is at the Geneva nuclear conference this summer. Although many of the foreign participants will undoubtedly be seeking data on radioisotopes, there is little question but that the major interest will be in power reactors. Certainly this will be the subject arena in which we will be vying with Russia and other nations for the plaudits of observers. The loss in face we can suffer if we go into the conference with an empty basket is incalculable. On the other hand, a gain in confidence in us and ultimate progress in atomic energy elsewhere are the rewards to be reaped from a fuller offering.
Luntz, Jerome D. 1955. “For a bold declassification policy.” Nucleonics 13 (Apr.): 1.