TY - JOUR
T1 - Nuclear energy in the service of biomedicine
T2 - The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's Radioisotope Program, 1946-1950
AU - Creager, Angela N.H.
N1 - Funding Information:
Research on this project was supported by the author’s NSF CAREER grant, ‘‘Life Science in the Atomic Age,’’ SBE 98-75012. I wish to thank Graham Burnett, Michael Gordin, Alison Kraft, John Krige, María Jesús Santesmases, and two anonymous referees for their insightful comments and suggestions. I am grateful to Sultana
Funding Information:
District declassified reports.94 Because the work was being conducted in conjunction with the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory, it was soon supported through an Atomic Energy Commission grant to Lawrence.95 Not surprisingly, Calvin was also an early recipient of Oak Ridge carbon-14, which had a much higher specific activity than the material obtainable from the Berkeley cyclotrons.
PY - 2006/11
Y1 - 2006/11
N2 - The widespread adoption of radioisotopes as tools in biomedical research and therapy became one of the major consequences of the "physicists' war" for postwar life science. Scientists in the Manhattan Project, as part of their efforts to advocate for civilian uses of atomic energy after the war, proposed using infrastructure from the wartime bomb project to develop a government-run radioisotope distribution program. After the Atomic Energy Bill was passed and before the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was formally established, the Manhattan Project began shipping isotopes from Oak Ridge. Scientists and physicians put these reactor-produced isotopes to many of the same uses that had been pioneered with cyclotron-generated radioisotopes in the 1930s and early 1940s. The majority of early AEC shipments were radioiodine and radiophosphorus, employed to evaluate thyroid function, diagnose medical disorders, and irradiate tumors. Both researchers and politicians lauded radioisotopes publicly for their potential in curing diseases, particularly cancer. However, isotopes proved less successful than anticipated in treating cancer and more successful in medical diagnostics. On the research side, reactor-generated radioisotopes equipped biologists with new tools to trace molecular transformations from metabolic pathways to ecosystems. The U.S. government's production and promotion of isotopes stimulated their consumption by scientists and physicians (both domestic and abroad), such that in the postwar period isotopes became routine elements of laboratory and clinical use. In the early postwar years, radioisotopes signified the government's commitment to harness the atom for peace, particularly through contributions to biology, medicine, and agriculture.
AB - The widespread adoption of radioisotopes as tools in biomedical research and therapy became one of the major consequences of the "physicists' war" for postwar life science. Scientists in the Manhattan Project, as part of their efforts to advocate for civilian uses of atomic energy after the war, proposed using infrastructure from the wartime bomb project to develop a government-run radioisotope distribution program. After the Atomic Energy Bill was passed and before the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was formally established, the Manhattan Project began shipping isotopes from Oak Ridge. Scientists and physicians put these reactor-produced isotopes to many of the same uses that had been pioneered with cyclotron-generated radioisotopes in the 1930s and early 1940s. The majority of early AEC shipments were radioiodine and radiophosphorus, employed to evaluate thyroid function, diagnose medical disorders, and irradiate tumors. Both researchers and politicians lauded radioisotopes publicly for their potential in curing diseases, particularly cancer. However, isotopes proved less successful than anticipated in treating cancer and more successful in medical diagnostics. On the research side, reactor-generated radioisotopes equipped biologists with new tools to trace molecular transformations from metabolic pathways to ecosystems. The U.S. government's production and promotion of isotopes stimulated their consumption by scientists and physicians (both domestic and abroad), such that in the postwar period isotopes became routine elements of laboratory and clinical use. In the early postwar years, radioisotopes signified the government's commitment to harness the atom for peace, particularly through contributions to biology, medicine, and agriculture.
KW - Biochemistry
KW - Cyclotrons
KW - Ecology
KW - Manhattan Project
KW - Medical diagnostics
KW - Metabolism
KW - Oak Ridge
KW - Radioisotopes
KW - U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
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U2 - 10.1007/s10739-006-9108-2
DO - 10.1007/s10739-006-9108-2
M3 - Review article
C2 - 17575955
AN - SCOPUS:33750148573
SN - 0022-5010
VL - 39
SP - 649
EP - 684
JO - Journal of the History of Biology
JF - Journal of the History of Biology
IS - 4
ER -