Dresden 2011 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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GP: Fachverband Geschichte der Physik

GP 6: Militärische Kontexte

GP 6.1: Vortrag

Dienstag, 15. März 2011, 11:45–12:10, HSZ 204

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation (1943-1987): a Case Study of the Interface between Physics and Biology during the Cold War. — •Daniele Macuglia — Fishbein Center for the History of Science and Medicine, The University of Chicago, 1126 E. 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

During its active period (1943-1987) the Hanford Nuclear Reservation shaped the history of US nuclear research. It also constitutes an interesting case study of the interface between physics, biology and the politics of Cold War society. Although supposed to turn the US into a stronger military force during the Cold War, the remarkable biological consequences of the nuclear research carried out in the facility ended up overshadowing its original political purpose. The high-level of radioactive waste harmed thousands of people living in the area, causing relevant environmental disasters which make the site the most contaminated area in the US even today. Nuclear research is uniquely dangerous since radiation can cause severe consequences both in terms of lives injured and environmental damage. I will address various ways in which nuclear physics and biology were used - and abused - at the Hanford Site to combine the needs of politics with the needs of a healthy society. This paper will further investigate the moral responsibility of science to society and the way in which biological research informed nuclear physics about the deleterious consequences of radiation on environment and on the human body.