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HOME / PEOPLE /

John A Phillips (1955-present)

John A Phillips (1955-present)

The class of 78
Entrepreneur
CEO Aristotle, INC
Photo of John A Phillips

John Aristotle Phillips, founder of political data-analytics firm
Aristotle, graduated from Princeton University with a degree in
aerospace engineering in the class of 1978^^[1]. Known as the "A-bomb
kid," Phillips is known for a project he did in a physics seminar in
1976: designing a cost-effective and relatively small A-bomb^^[2].
While the cost of creating an atomic bomb can vary greatly, most
estimates place the cost at well over $1 million^^[3]; Phillip's
project posited that it was possible to do so for roughly $2,000 and
the actual bomb would fit in the size of a U-haul trailer^^[4]. A
project with frightening connotations, Phillip's work was confiscated
by the FBI, despite the fact that Phillips was able to design his
bomb using only his nuclear engineering textbook and two unclassified
government documents^^[5]. Phillip's professor has said that the
design would likely work, but his design was not actually built.
Moreover, in comparison to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, this bomb
design has been said to be more sophisticated and complex, implying
how easy it would be for political terrorists to make such a
devasting weapon^^[6]. Nevertheless, though Phillips has said, "any
other physics major could do this better,"^^[7] his project was the
only one in that seminar to get an A^^[8].

After making this shocking paper, Phillip's gained much popularity
and was even approached by both France and Pakistan making offers to
buy his research and later wrote a book on his experiences more
broadly at Princeton. He slowly moved away from creating nuclear
things and invented a motorcycle air bag^^[9], but he did become a
strong activist against nuclear activity and ran unsuccessfully for
Congress twice, once in 1980 and again in 1982. Today, he uses his
politcal experience to aid other political campiagns through things
like machine learning and technology solutions, and has become
well-known name in the field of politics^^[10].

 

 

 

 

 

^^[1] https://www.aristotle.com/about/

^^[2] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/107621757900200315

^^[3] https://blog.ucsusa.org/elliott-negin/
how-much-cost-to-create-nuclear-weapon

^^[4] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/107621757900200315

^^[5] http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2019/ph241/gillman2/

^^[6] https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/09/archives/
student-designs-2000-atom-bomb.html.

^^[7] https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/09/archives/
student-designs-2000-atom-bomb.html.

^^[8]  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/
107621757900200315

^^[9]https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1977/06/10/
star-student-john-phillips/e3343665-3c62-4b15-b01e-b6b38dcf58cb/

^^[10] https://www.aristotle.com/about/

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