[Sci-tech-public] STS Colloquium - Sept 26th with Angela Creager

[Bianca Sinausky]

MIT Program in Science, Technology, and Society

Colloquium 

 

 

Beams and Emanations: Radioisotopes as Medical Tools in the Atomic Age

Angela N. H. Creager, Princeton University

 

Abstract:

Clinical uses of radioisotopes after World War II opened up new
opportunities for human experimentation, in which the boundaries between
laboratory research, therapy, and medical diagnosis were highly permeable.
This chapter of my book examines how the new availability of radioisotopes
from a former Manhattan Project reactor and the Atomic Energy Commission's
support for research on their biomedical uses shaped the emergence of
nuclear medicine in the 1950s. In addition, the military's interest in the
biological and cognitive effects of radiation and fissionable elements (such
as uranium) meant that some cancer patients receiving experimental therapy
were simultaneously subjects of defense research. Developments in
radiotherapy and diagnostics during this period widened the gulf,
particularly in dosage, between therapeutic uses and tracer uses of
radioisotopes, the former in radiation sources of unprecedented strength
("beams"), the latter for shorter-lived and lower-energy radioisotopes
("emanations") that could be considered safe for routine tests. Particularly
in the area of diagnostics, one can also see how the medical establishment
sought to respond to both the public concern and new scientific evidence
about the hazards of low-level radiation.

 

*****Please note that we have changed our format for colloquia in STS this
semester: Speakers will share precirculated papers, and we will have a
commenter to help lead discussion. If you would like to have an emailed PDF
of Professor Creager's paper, please contact Bianca Sinausky,
singleta at mit.edu. 

 

 

 

Monday, September 26, 2011

4pm

Located at MIT Building E51-095

 

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