Among the ranks of incredible scholarly accomplishments, few tales reach so high as to involve John Aristotle Phillips, a Princeton University undergrad who outlined on a mere shoestring budget the design for a working atomic bomb. It was 1976, and the episode, occurring during a fraught time of the Cold War, posed a nagging question to the United States: Could a physics major with limited funds and access to public records actually devise a nuclear weapon?
Phillips, or the “A-bomb kid,” drew up his design for a physics class, relying only on his nuclear engineering textbook and two unclassified government reports. His described bomb was advanced enough to be placed in a U-Haul trailer and assembled for about $2,000 a big difference from the millions invested in nuclear weapons. His professor recognized the practicality of the design, but his design was never constructed. Additionally, compared to the Hiroshima bomb, this bomb design has been reported to be even more advanced and complex,
The implications were sobering. As Phillips himself noted, “any other physics major could do this better.” The notion that political terrorists or non-nuclear nations might duplicate his efforts and produce a deadly weapon was a terror for the U.S. government. In a step that illustrated the threat, the FBI seized his paper.
The project got Phillips an A, the sole one in his seminar, and propelled him to a bizarre form of fame. Foreign parties approached him, including France and Pakistani officials, who were willing to purchase his research. His tale got syndicated in national newspapers, and he even appeared on TV game shows. He finally described his experience in the book “Mushroom: The Story of the A-Bomb Kid” with David Michaelis.
Phillips’ brush with nuclear stardom had a lasting impact on his path. He turned into an anti-nuclear activist, ran for Congress twice, and eventually started Aristotle, Inc., translating his political acumen into a lucrative business. His company, which does political campaigns and data mining, has since worked for every White House resident since Ro
