Oral Histories: Julie Langham Grilly: Footnotes

(42)For the transcript of the interview with Voelz, see DOE/EH-0454, Human Radiation Studies: Remembering the Early Years; Oral History of Dr. George Voelz, M.D. (May 1995)

(43)After med school, Voelz served at Los Alamos under Dr. Thomas Shipman, the Health Division leader. Voelz's initial year was part of an in-plant training program for the practical application of industrial medicine. He stayed on for another three and a half years in a staff position in the Application Medicine Group at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

(44)Created in 1949 as the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS), INEL has served as the test site for prototypes of many reactor designs in wide use today. INEL now operates the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) for engineering studies, and focuses on waste disposal and remediation technology.

(45)Hempelmann was a group leader in the Health Division at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory from 1943 to 1947, and led the division from 1946 to 1948. An expert in radiology and radiobiology, Hempelmann served in the Atomic Energy Commission from 1948 to 1950, then joined the faculty of the University of Rochester.

(46)a 40-percent solution of formaldehyde, used as an antiseptic and disinfectant in dilute solution and as a fixing agent for histological specimens

(47)Formed in a May 1947 reorganization, the "H" or Health Division had responsibility for a much broader range of health activities than its predecessor, the Health Group (Group A-10). These responsibilities included radiological safety, health physics, and industrial health. The H Division also monitored exposures and was responsible for safety for all weapons tests conducted by the Laboratory.

(48)leader of the Health Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Lab's Medical Director

(49)The Administrative Division had been set up by J. Robert Oppenheimer during the Manhattan Project. It was responsible for such activities as health, procurement, and patents.

(50)an accelerator in which particles move in spiral paths in a constant magnetic field

(51)U.S. physicist, 1901–58; a pioneer in nuclear physics who built and operated (with M. Stanley Livingston and Milton White) the first cyclotron in 1930 on the Berkeley campus of the University of California; established the University of California Radiation Laboratory in 1936 and served as its director until his death. His ingenuity and drive made the Berkeley-based Radiation Laboratory the unofficial capital of nuclear physics in the United States.

(52)high-energy physics research activities, which typically require large, costly facilities and large teams of scientists and engineers

(53)J. Robert Oppenheimer, U.S. nuclear physicist (1904–67) who was chosen by General Leslie Groves to direct the development and construction of the atomic bombs at Los Alamos, New Mexico

(54)Metallurgical Laboratory, the laboratory set up at the University of Chicago during World War II to lead the secret research and development of controlled nuclear fission under the Manhattan Project; in particular, the design of reactor facilities and the chemical separation of uranium, plutonium, and fission products from irradiated nuclear fuels

(55)a professor of Radiology at the University of Rochester (Rochester, New York), site of research involving plutonium and human subjects. Dr. Warren worked on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge as head of the medical section and headed an Intramedical Advisory Committee. After World War II, he became dean of the University of California, Los Angeles Medical School.

(56)A microgram is one-millionth of a gram; there are about 28.35 grams in one troy ounce.

(57)General Leslie R. Groves, of the U.S. Army, assumed command of the Manhattan Engineer District in 1942 and led it to completion of the Manhattan Project.

(58)During World War II, the Manhattan Project had built a vast complex of highly classified facilities in and near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to process uranium for use in atomic bombs. The Atomic Energy Commission assumed control of these facilities upon its creation and, today, they belong to the Department of Energy.

(59)From 1951 to 1977, Durbin worked as a chemist and radiobiologist at the Crocker Laboratory of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory). For the transcript of the November, 11, 1994 interview with Durbin, see DOE/EH-0458, Human Radiation Studies: Remembering the Early Years; Oral History of Dr. Patricia Wallace Durbin, Ph.D. (June 1995).

(60)a weekly tabloid generally regarded as sensationalist in its coverage and treatment of news

(61)On January 17, 1966, an accident occured between two U.S. Air Force jet aircraft: a KC-135 tanker and a B-52 bomber carrying four thermonuclear weapons. Two of the weapons were found intact. The other two experienced non-nuclear explosions that resulted in the release of some fissile fuel and some burning. The United States and Spain, in a joint effort, performed remedial actions and instigated a long-term program to monitor the cleanup.

(62)The United States was concerned with the public perception of the accident and the effect of the accident on its relations with Spain.

(63)the first test detonation of a nuclear weapon, conducted at Alamogordo Bombing Range in New Mexico, July 16, 1945

(64)Italian-born physicist under whose leadership the Chicago researchers produced the first sustained nuclear chain reaction on December 2, 1942

(65)(1908–), Hungarian-born refugee physicist and the "Father of the Hydrogen Bomb." In the early 1980s, Teller became the leading proponent of advanced strategic defenses (which he argued should be based on nuclear weapons) as morally preferable to offensive, retaliation-based deterrence.

(66)The 1954 decision to revoke Oppenheimer's clearance polarized the scientific community, large segments of which ostracized Edward Teller, who was seen has having abetted that action, for many years.

(67)From early in the Manhattan Project, friction developed and grew between Teller and Oppenheimer. Teller favored development of the hydrogen bomb; Oppenheimer opposed it. After World War II, Oppenheimer's strength of reputation in the scientific community came to be seen as a major threat by H-bomb proponents. In July 1954, the AEC revoked his security clearance. Teller, who led the U.S. development of the hydrogen bomb, presented views critical of Oppenheimer that contributed to the AEC decision. However, the decision in the complex matter, in which no security lapses by Oppenheimer were ever proven, has come to be widely regarded as less a result of objective deliberation than of differences over early Cold War national security policy, professional rivalry, and personal animosity. Oppenheimer's pre-war associations with Communist front groups dogged him through the war years. Oppenheimer also challenged a broader national security policy at a critical time. Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations in February 1953, he opposed the emergent U.S. nuclear retaliatory deterrent policy on practical and moral grounds, favoring instead a defensive strategy. This position exacerbated friction with proponents of the H-bomb, by then at the center of scientific influence on national security policy once occupied by Oppenheimer.When the Soviets detonated their first hydrogen bomb in August 1953, the event accelerated the development of U.S. nuclear weapons and cast Oppenheimer in the position of having contributed to earlier paralysis in decision making. Sources: John Major, The Oppenheimer Hearing, Stein and Day, New York, 1971; and Peter Goodchild, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Shatterer of Worlds, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1981.

(68)AEC Chairman Strauss is reported to have determined to punish Oppenheimer for having opposed him, in scathing terms, during testimony favoring the export of radioactive isotopes in 1949. Oppenheimer's 1953 speech before the Council on Foreign Relations (discussed in preceding footnote) further focused opposition to him in the AEC. Strauss, known for his politically conservative views, initiated the hearing on Oppenheimer's clearance and approved the decision. In 1959, Strauss was nominated by President Eisenhower to be Secretary of Commerce. Two Los Alamos scientists testified in opposition, citing three cases, including Oppenheimer's, in which they said Strauss had abused the AEC security program to punish employees who opposed his views. Strauss's nomination was barely reported out of committee and was defeated in a vote of the full U.S. Senate. Sources: Major, ibid., and Goodchild, ibid.

(69)a famous American radio newscaster

(70)the playboy son of the spiritual leader of millions of Muslims. A Pakastani, Khan was married to American actress Rita Hayworth from 1949 to 1951.

(71)Willard, in which thousands of rats are loosed upon a city by an angry psychopath.

(72)radioactive debris from a nuclear detonation or other source. Fallout is usually deposited from airborne particles.

(73)an American chemist who researched physical, inorganic, and nuclear chemistry and radiochemistry. He worked at Los Alamos in the late '40s and early '50s and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1960 for the discovery of radiocarbon dating—the practice of measuring the ratio of radiocarbon to stable carbon to establish the approximate age of an artifact, region, etc.

(74)a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) based in Santa Monica, California. RAND analysts are called on by the Department of Defense and other Government agencies to analyze complex technical and interdisciplinary problems; RAND was the prime contractor for the Greenhouse project that Willard Libby started.

(75)Ernest Carl Anderson was a physical chemist who worked at the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory during the Manhattan Project, 1942–44, and then at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Dr. Anderson received the AEC's E.O. Lawrence Award in 1966. He conducted research in natural radiocarbon, liquid scintillation counters, low-level radioactivity measurements, and cellular biochemistry. He also designed the HUMCO II, an improved version of the first whole-body counter, HUMCO I.

(76)the practice of measuring the ratio of radiocarbon to stable carbon to establish the approximate age of an artifact, region, etc.

(77)apparatuses that measure radionuclides in man using shielded detectors and multichannel energy analyzers

(78)Project Sunshine was initiated by the AEC in response to the urgent need for radiation biomedical information. The Project began as an evaluation of the hazards associated with nuclear war and grew into a worldwide investigation of radioactive fallout levels in the environment and in human beings.

(79)Dr. Randolph Lovelace was the director of the Lovelace Foundation and Hospital in Albuquerque. He was intimately involved in the clinical aspects of health and well-being of workers involved in overpressure tests.

(80)a flash of light from the ionization of a phosphor struck by an energetic photon or particle

(81)measuring radioactivity by registering the number of scintillations it produces

(82)From 1955 to 1958, Richmond was an assistant, then a staff member, at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. In 1958, Dr. Richmond was appointed to the staff of the Atomic Energy Commission—Division of Biology and Medicine in Washington, D.C., where he remained until returning to LASL in 1971 to head the Biomedical Research Group. For the transcript of the January 24, 1995 interview with Richmond, see DOE/EH-0477, Human Radiation Studies: Remembering the Early Years; Oral History of Radiobiologist Chet Richmond, Ph.D. (August 1995).

(83)a series of chemical compounds that scintillate when irradiated. The use of one oxazole—terphenyl—for scintillation counting was pioneered at Los Alamos in the '50s. Terphenyl remains a staple for scintillation counters.

(84)a device for sorting individual cells, flowing in a fine stream, based on their physical characteristics

(85)a physicist at Los Alamos who had come from MIT

(86)In the 1950s at Los Alamos, he worked with Van Dilla to run the development of instrumentation for cell growth experiments.

(87)Dean was in charge of operating and refining the HUMCO II whole-body counter during its early development.

(88)DP West was the site of the early plutonium chemistry labs before the CMR building was built.

(89)For the transcript of the interview with Cohn, see DOE/EH-0464, Human Radiation Studies: Remembering the Early Years; Oral History of Biochemist Waldo E. Cohn, Ph.D. (June 1995).

(90)the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor agency to the U.S. Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); established January 1, 1947

(91)Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory in Hunters Point near Oakland, California

(92)the practice of taking a photograph through a microscope

(93)a multiatom particle of radioactive material that emits many alpha or beta particles

(94)The hot particle project arose in response to a concern that, if a nuclear-powered rocket would abort before leaving the atmosphere, particles of plutonium would rain down to earth, be inhaled, and and lodge in people's lungs. The project is discussed at length in "Dr. Langham's Postwar Studies of Plutonium" in the Petersen transcript (DOE/EH-0460).

(95)dosimeters worn routinely to measure accumulated personal exposure to radiation on photographic film

(96)For the transcript of the interview with Gamertsfelder, see DOE/EH-0467 (September 1995).

(97)Grilly is referring to the Rover experiments, a research and development program initiated by the AEC and the U.S. Air Force in 1957 to develop nuclear rocket propulsion. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) replaced the Air Force as cosponsor in 1960. AEC had responsibility for the nuclear aspects of the program. AEC work was assigned to Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and Lawrence Radiation Laboratory; field experimentation was conducted at Jackass Flats, Nevada. The Kiwi series of experimental reactors was part of Project Rover. The relatively long development lead time associated with nuclear rocket propulsion caused the program to lose funding priority to chemical rockets in the 1960s. Source: Linda Neuman Ezell, NASA Historical Data Book, Vol. II: Programs and Projects 1958–1988; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Washington, D.C.; 1988; p. 473.

(98)On January 21, 1968, a B-52 airplane from the U.S. Strategic Air Command crashed in Bylot Sound, 7 miles (11 kilometers) west of Thule Air Force Base in Greenland. Due to the impact of the plane, the chemical explosive in the four unarmed nuclear weapons onboard the aircraft detonated, causing the release of kilograms of plutonium into the environment.

(99)soft boots worn by Eskimos, often lined with fur and usually made of sealskin or reindeer skin

(100)ERDA succeeded the AEC in the early '70s, and in turn was replaced by the DOE in 1977.

(101)a broad-scale program sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy to map the location of every gene of all 47 human chromosomes