Lecture | PCNI Research Seminar
The Nuclear-Water Nexus
- Date
- Thursday 1 December 2022
- Time
- Series
- PCNI Research Seminars 2022-2023
- Location
-
Johan Huizinga
Doelensteeg 16
2311 VL Leiden - Room
- 2.60 (Conference Room)
On December 1, the PCNI research group will host a meeting with Dr. Elizabeth Hameeteman, who will present a draft chapter titled “Insatiable Thirst: Desalination and the Early Potential of Nuclear Power for Water and Energy in the United States”. The seminar is part of a series of meetings that the PCNI research group will organize throughout the A.Y. 2022-2023 and that will explore the historical origins of some of the most relevant challenges that confront our contemporary democracies.
Elizabeth Hameeteman’s talk will revolve around energy crises and peaceful uses of nuclear power, especially nuclear desalination. From the 1950s onward, indeed, this technology promised to create a reliable, climate-independent, and seemingly infinite supply of electricity and fresh water as means to assure peace and prosperity around the world.
Elizabeth Hameeteman obtained her PhD in History at Boston University in 2022. Her dissertation, titled “Pipe Parity: Desalination, Development, and the Global Quest for Water in the 1950s and 1960s,” explored the role of desalination as a seemingly viable adaptation strategy to reduce the impact of water scarcity and climate variability in the post-WWII period. Originally from the Netherlands and now temporarily based at the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies in Middelburg, Elizabeth has a background in Law and American Studies. She is also the founder and executive editor of Environmental History Now (EHN), an award-winning online platform that showcases the environmental-related work and expertise of graduate students and early career scholars who identify as women, trans and/or nonbinary people.
The meeting will be held in person, but it will be possible to attend it online too. To join the meeting online, please register by sending an email to the PCNI coordinator, Dario Fazzi at d.fazzi@hum.leidenuniv.nl.