Why the Atomic Historian?

Ever since I changed my profile name a few months ago, I’ve had a few friends and family ask me about the change. A pseudonym at all? Why the Atomic Historian?

There are several reasons for me to use a pseudonym. The first being that my given name is not that unique. And after poking around the internet, I realized that if I want to stand out better, I needed to come up with some unique identifier. My goal with this was to create a brand of sorts. Something that I could use across multiple social media platforms that is unique to me. This initially proved more difficult than I thought.

I first started looking around my house for things that were unique about me. Looking at my bachelor’s in history hanging on the wall, I knew I wanted to incorporate that in some way. So, at first I came up with several names related to being tattooed and a historian. But this didn’t work, as there are already quite a few people on the internet with similar names, including “The Tattooed Historian” who also has @InkedHistorian on Twitter. So, it was back to the drawing board.

Luckily, I also keep my Shellback certificate on my wall as well. Walking by it a few days after squeezing my noodle for all it’s creativity I had an epiphany, and the AtomicHistorian was born. Or rather conjured from the ooze.

Why the Atomic Historian?

The etymology of calling myself the Atomic Historian is both two-fold, and deceptive. Two-fold, because I have lived through two nuclear disasters. And deceptive because I don’t focus on the history of nuclear energy or atomic weapons. Ironically, I prefer to focus on Latin American history, and Latin America has been declared a nuclear-weapon-free zone since the signing of the Treaty of Tlatelolco in 1967. But enough about that. You’re probably wondering about the nuclear disasters right now.

Well, as fate would have it, I just so happened to be born in the German state of Baden-Württemberg in early 1986. And little did I, or anyone in Europe know at the time that only a few months later the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant would blow up, spreading radiation across Europe. So, how does one experience a second nuclear disaster?

It began with me joining the Navy. Later I would deploy in 2011 with the USS Ronald Reagan to the east Pacific. And it would be here that I would experience my second nuclear disaster. And it is this one that I have the most memories of.

One of my most distinct memories from that night was feeling the tsunami hit the ship. This is one of the most unsettling things I have ever felt. My supervisor and I were working the night shift, when somewhere around 0300 our time, we felt the deck of the ship drop out from underneath us.

When I say drop, I mean this in the same sense that sometimes when one is on an elevator, you can feel the floor drop out from underneath you. It was startling, but hardly caused any panic. I distinctly remember looking over at my supervisor, and asking, “is that normal?” I asked because, except for a few exercises the year prior, I had very little sea time.

He turned to me and said, “No. I’ve never felt anything like that. But there’s no alarm, so it’s probably fine.” However, to be sure, and to be prepared if there was a damage control or general quarters alarm sounded, we paused our work for about 30 minutes. After this, and not wanting to get stuck in our shop without one, we headed to the smoke deck to have a cigarette, just in case. This was a good choice, as in a few days the ability to take a smoke break would be a fleeting luxury, as we would spend the next few months assisting the Japanese with their rescue and clean up efforts. While I look back on this experience with pride, at the time it was one of the most stressful times of my life. Well, until college that is.

It was at college, after having changed my major several times that I finally stuck with history. I stayed with history because I have always loved history. I decided to focus on Latin American history both because that area of the world is fascinating, and because it is not covered much by American historians. And that my friends is the origin of why I call myself the Atomic Historian.

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