Atomic Doctors
Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age
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- €26.99
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- €26.99
Publisher Description
An unflinching examination of the moral and professional dilemmas faced by physicians who took part in the Manhattan Project.
After his father died, James L. Nolan, Jr., took possession of a box of private family materials. To his surprise, the small secret archive contained a treasure trove of information about his grandfather’s role as a doctor in the Manhattan Project. Dr. Nolan, it turned out, had been a significant figure. A talented ob-gyn radiologist, he cared for the scientists on the project, organized safety and evacuation plans for the Trinity test at Alamogordo, escorted the “Little Boy” bomb from Los Alamos to the Pacific Islands, and was one of the first Americans to enter the irradiated ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Participation on the project challenged Dr. Nolan’s instincts as a healer. He and his medical colleagues were often conflicted, torn between their duty and desire to win the war and their oaths to protect life. Atomic Doctors follows these physicians as they sought to maximize the health and safety of those exposed to nuclear radiation, all the while serving leaders determined to minimize delays and maintain secrecy. Called upon both to guard against the harmful effects of radiation and to downplay its hazards, doctors struggled with the ethics of ending the deadliest of all wars using the most lethal of all weapons. Their work became a very human drama of ideals, co-optation, and complicity.
A vital and vivid account of a largely unknown chapter in atomic history, Atomic Doctors is a profound meditation on the moral dilemmas that ordinary people face in extraordinary times.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this well-informed history, Williams College sociologist Nolan (What They Saw in America) chronicles the participation of his grandfather, James Findley Nolan, and other medical doctors in U.S. efforts to develop nuclear weapons. An obstetrician trained in the use of radiation therapy to treat gynecological cancer, James Findley Nolan joined the Manhattan Project in 1943 and participated in the Trinity test, the Joint Commission's study of the aftermath of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, and the testing of nuclear weapons on Bikini Atoll. He and the other Manhattan Project physicians urged caution despite knowing little about the effects of radiation, according to the author, and continued to raise the alarm as their understanding increased. But those warnings were often ignored and even, at times, willfully misinterpreted by military officials to downplay the dangers of nuclear fallout. The author also notes the suspicions of medical doctors that the army was more concerned with guarding against future legal claims than protecting the health and safety of testing personnel. The penultimate chapter, which addresses the sociological implications of humanity's pursuit of technological innovations such as the internet and artificial intelligence, feels out of place. Still, this fine-grained and lucidly written account illuminates a little-known aspect of America's nuclear history.