Samuel T. Cohen, the inventor of the neutron bomb -- a controversial weapon able to kill people while leaving buildings intact -- has died at the age of 89, his son said Thursday.
Even in his final days, Cohen defended the weapon -- built after receiving the green light from US president Ronald Reagan during the Cold War and later dismantled -- as the most "sane and moral weapon ever devised."
"It's the only nuclear weapon in history that makes sense in waging war. When the war is over, the world is still intact," Cohen told the New York Times shortly before his death.Unlike a conventional thermonuclear weapon, which can flatten an entire city, the neutron bomb emits tiny particles that pass through walls, armor or other physical objects to destroy living cells, killing combatants rapidly.
Critics said the device, which has only a fraction of the explosive power of an atom bomb, would make nuclear warfare more acceptable and increase the risk of a catastrophic global conflict.
US presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter all rejected the device, but Reagan (1981-1989) approved it in order to deter a Soviet invasion of Europe, arguing it would halt tanks without flattening cities.
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