"A great many authors have given terrible pictures of future wars, where new types of explosive and gas are used. H.G. Wells has been a rather serious offender in this respect, painting terrible pictures of great cities wiped out in a single air raid, and wide areas poisoned for years on end.

[...]

"Of course if it is ever possible to gain complete control of changes in the nuclei of atoms such as cause radioactivity, much more formidable explosives will be possible. But at present we can neither speed these reactions up nor slow them down to the slightest extent, even in the laboratory, let alone in a bomb."

--- J.B.S. Haldane, A.R.P - Air Raid Precautions, 1938.