Alex Wellerstein is an Associate Professor in the Science and Technology Studies program in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. As of 2025, he is also a visiting researcher at the Nuclear Knowledges program, at the Center for International Studies, at Sciences Po, in Paris, France.
His work primarily focuses on the history of nuclear weapons. His first book, Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States, was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2021. His second book, The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age, was published by HarperCollins in 2025.
His popular writings have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s Magazine, and many other venues. He is perhaps best known as the creator of the NUKEMAP, the world’s most popular online nuclear weapons effects simulator. His work and research are regularly featured in media about nuclear matters. He is also the author of the Doomsday Machines blog.
He received a PhD in the History of Science from Harvard University in 2010. He previously received a BA (High Honors) in History from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2002. Prior to starting his professorship at Stevens in 2014, he taught at Harvard, MIT, and Georgetown University. He was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure at Stevens in 2021.
He was the Edward Teller Graduate Fellow in Science and Security Studies for the Office of History and Heritage Resources at the U.S. Department of Energy (2007-2008), and postdoctoral fellow at the Managing the Atom Project and the International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
From 2011-2014, he was Associate Historian (a postdoctoral position) at the Center for the History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics, in College Park, Maryland.
At Stevens, he has taught courses on the history of science, the history of nuclear technology, data visualization, science communication, and science and technology studies.
For a full curriculum vitae (CV), click here.
Wellerstein grew up in Stockton, California, in the San Joaquin Valley. He has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Greater Boston Metro area, Washington, DC, and in the greater New York City Metro area. He currently lives in Paris, France. He is married to Ellen Bales, a PhD historian from UC Berkeley and an award-winning upper-school history teacher, who until recently taught at an independent school in New York City. Their dog is named Lyndon.
This website was substantially updated and redesigned in 2021, after having not been redesigned for over 15 years. The old website, which included a variety of teaching resources and other matters, has been archived here.
