Life atomic : a history of radioisotopes in science and medicine /
Creager, Angela N. H.
Life atomic : a history of radioisotopes in science and medicine / Angela N.H. Creager. - 1 online resource (xvi, 489 pages) - Synthesis . - Synthesis. .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 409-460) and index.
Chapter 1. Tracers; Chapter 2. Cyclotrons; Chapter 3. Reactors; Chapter 4. Embargo; Chapter 5. Dividends; Chapter 6. Sales; Chapter 7. Pathways; Chapter 8. Guinea Pigs; Chapter 9. Beams and Emanations; Chapter 10. Ecosystems; Chapter 11. Half-Lives.
After World War II, the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) began mass-producing radioisotopes, sending out nearly 64,000 shipments of radioactive materials to scientists and physicians by 1955. Even as the atomic bomb became the focus of Cold War anxiety, radioisotopes represented the government's efforts to harness the power of the atom for peace--advancing medicine, domestic energy, and foreign relations. In Life Atomic, Angela N.H. Creager tells the story of how these radioisotopes, which were simultaneously scientific tools and political icons, transformed biomedicine and ecology. Government-produced radioisotopes provided physicians with new tools for diagnosis and therapy, specifically cancer therapy, and enabled biologists to trace molecular transformations. Yet the government's attempt to present radioisotopes as marvelous dividends of the atomic age was undercut in the 1950s by the fallout debates, as scientists and citizens recognized the hazards of low-level radiation. Creager reveals that growing consciousness of the danger of radioactivity did not reduce the demand for radioisotopes at hospitals and laboratories, but it did change their popular representation from a therapeutic agent to an environmental poison. She then demonstrates how, by the late twentieth century, public fear of radioactivity overshadowed any appreciation of the positive consequences of the AEC's provision of radioisotopes for research and medicine.
022601794X (ebook) 9780226017945 (electronic bk.) (print) (print)
40022775250
Radioisotopes in research--History.
Radioisotopes in medical diagnosis--History.
Nuclear medicine--History.
Radioisotopes--Industrial applications--History.
Radioisotopes--history
Radioisotopes--therapeutic use
Nuclear Medicine--history
Isotopes radioactifs dans la recherche--Histoire.
Isotopes radioactifs dans le diagnostic--Histoire.
Médecine nucléaire--Histoire.
Isotopes radioactifs--Applications industrielles--Histoire.
SCIENCE / General.
Nuclear medicine.
Radioisotopes in medical diagnosis.
Radioisotopes in research.
Radioisotopes--Industrial applications.
Radionuklid
Medizin
Naturwissenschaften
United States
Electronic books.
History.
QC798.A1 .C384 2013
660.2988409
621.039.8 / C74
WN 11 AA1 / C913L 2013
Life atomic : a history of radioisotopes in science and medicine / Angela N.H. Creager. - 1 online resource (xvi, 489 pages) - Synthesis . - Synthesis. .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 409-460) and index.
Chapter 1. Tracers; Chapter 2. Cyclotrons; Chapter 3. Reactors; Chapter 4. Embargo; Chapter 5. Dividends; Chapter 6. Sales; Chapter 7. Pathways; Chapter 8. Guinea Pigs; Chapter 9. Beams and Emanations; Chapter 10. Ecosystems; Chapter 11. Half-Lives.
After World War II, the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) began mass-producing radioisotopes, sending out nearly 64,000 shipments of radioactive materials to scientists and physicians by 1955. Even as the atomic bomb became the focus of Cold War anxiety, radioisotopes represented the government's efforts to harness the power of the atom for peace--advancing medicine, domestic energy, and foreign relations. In Life Atomic, Angela N.H. Creager tells the story of how these radioisotopes, which were simultaneously scientific tools and political icons, transformed biomedicine and ecology. Government-produced radioisotopes provided physicians with new tools for diagnosis and therapy, specifically cancer therapy, and enabled biologists to trace molecular transformations. Yet the government's attempt to present radioisotopes as marvelous dividends of the atomic age was undercut in the 1950s by the fallout debates, as scientists and citizens recognized the hazards of low-level radiation. Creager reveals that growing consciousness of the danger of radioactivity did not reduce the demand for radioisotopes at hospitals and laboratories, but it did change their popular representation from a therapeutic agent to an environmental poison. She then demonstrates how, by the late twentieth century, public fear of radioactivity overshadowed any appreciation of the positive consequences of the AEC's provision of radioisotopes for research and medicine.
022601794X (ebook) 9780226017945 (electronic bk.) (print) (print)
40022775250
Radioisotopes in research--History.
Radioisotopes in medical diagnosis--History.
Nuclear medicine--History.
Radioisotopes--Industrial applications--History.
Radioisotopes--history
Radioisotopes--therapeutic use
Nuclear Medicine--history
Isotopes radioactifs dans la recherche--Histoire.
Isotopes radioactifs dans le diagnostic--Histoire.
Médecine nucléaire--Histoire.
Isotopes radioactifs--Applications industrielles--Histoire.
SCIENCE / General.
Nuclear medicine.
Radioisotopes in medical diagnosis.
Radioisotopes in research.
Radioisotopes--Industrial applications.
Radionuklid
Medizin
Naturwissenschaften
United States
Electronic books.
History.
QC798.A1 .C384 2013
660.2988409
621.039.8 / C74
WN 11 AA1 / C913L 2013