The emergence and pitfalls of international tissue banking.

The rapid growth of tissue banking and associated international organisations following the fall of the Berlin wall in 1991 is described. This surge in collaboration led to a world-wide constructive movement to use and to produce human tissues. As the years progressed industrialisation, led by the USA, improved the quality of tissue allografts but led higher costs and consolidation within the developing industry. The growth of litigation more than kept pace with the industrial progress. One landmark case is described, the outcome of which could revolutionise the current practices now applied to eliminate possible viral contamination of implanted tissue grafts.

Professor Glyn O. Phillip's legacy within the IAEA programme on radiation and tissue banking.

Professor Phillips began his involvement in the implementation of this important IAEA programme, insisting that there were advantages to be gained by using the ionizing radiation technique to sterilize human and animal tissues, based on the IAEA experience gained in the sterilization of medical products. The outcome of the implementation of the IAEA programme on radiation and tissue banking demonstrated that Professor Phillips was right in his opinion.

[For the Third Time in Chernobyl].

Noted Russian publicist, science historian and specialist in radioecology Zhores Aleksandrovich Medvedev shares its recollections on the residence in the zone of the Chernobyl accident, tells about the projects of co- vers over the destroyed reactor and discusses the prospects of atomic energy in Russia.

Clouds, airplanes, trucks and people: carrying radioisotopes to and across Mexico.

The aim of this paper is to describe the early stages of Mexican nuclearization that took place in contact with radioisotopes. This history requires a multilayered narrative with an emphasis in North-South asymmetric relations, and in the value of education and training in the creation of international asymmetrical networks. Radioisotopes were involved in exchanges with the United States since the late 1940s, but also with Canada. We also describe the context of implementation of Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace initiative in Mexico that opened the door to training programs at both the Comisión Nacional de Energía Nuclear and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Radioisotopes became the best example of the peaceful applications of atomic energy, and as such they fitted the Mexican nuclearization process that was and still is defined by its commitment to pacifism. In 1955 Mexico became one of the 16 members of the atomic fallout network established by the United Nations. As part of this network, the first generation of Mexican (women) radio-chemists was trained. By the end of the 1960s, radioisotopes and biological markers were being produced in a research reactor, prepared and distributed by the CNEN within Mexico. We end up this paper with a brief reflection on North-South nuclear exchanges and the particularities of the Mexican case.

[V.I.Vernadskii's theory of the biosphere and modern problems of radioecology].

The importance of Vernadsky's scientific heritage for the present stage of science development was substantiated. His role in the formation of radioecology as an independent scientific discipline was emphasized. The ecological consequences of an anthropogenic increase of the radiation background and the prospects of nuclear energy development were considered.

[D.P.Zuikhin and his contribution to the establishment and development of the system of medical maintenance of nuclear submarines personnel].

A highly qualified physician, an outstanding leader, a scientist Dmitry Zuikhin (1924-1988) was directly involved into establishment of a system of medical support for submariners in the sea and on shore, he proved the necessity of forces and means for the medical service fleet. He was a pioneer in this challenging and new field of naval medicine. His energy, perseverance and determination helped to establish in the early 1960 a system of medical support for nuclear submarines personnel, which was subsequently implemented in all associations and connections of nuclear submarines of the Northern and Pacific fleets.

A letter signed: the very beginnings of Dalton's atomic theory.

This paper explores the provenance and content of a previously unknown personal letter by John Dalton (1766-1844), which is dated 12 April 1803. It relates to a startling breakthrough in Dalton's research, which pre-dates by five months the earliest date in his laboratory notebook, namely, 6 September 1803. The author acquired the letter about thirty years ago, and now offers it to the public. He makes no attempt to explain how it contributes to--or even changes--our understanding of Dalton, but leaves that privilege to Dalton scholars.

Informing, involving or engaging? Science communication, in the ages of atom-, bio- and nanotechnology.

Science communication has shifted considerably in Europe over the last decades. Three technology controversies on atoms, genes, and nanoscale sciences and nanotechnologies (NST) turned the style of communication from one-way information, participation and dialogues to the idea of an early and more democratic engagement of the public. Analyzing science communication developing over the three controversies, this article shows that what happened in one technology field fed forward to and contributed to shaping the subsequent field and that communication was initiated at a progressively earlier stage of technology development. The article concludes with an empirical analysis of six public engagement projects in NST, saying that the shift towards more democratic engagement of the public hasn't been as profound and complete as has been thought. This is particularly due to the continuing adoption of a simplistic contrast structure that opposes science and the public as two self-contained, antagonistic social entities.

Phosphorus-32 in the Phage Group: radioisotopes as historical tracers of molecular biology.

The recent historiography of molecular biology features key technologies, instruments and materials, which offer a different view of the field and its turning points than preceding intellectual and institutional histories. Radioisotopes, in this vein, became essential tools in postwar life science research, including molecular biology, and are here analyzed through their use in experiments on bacteriophage. Isotopes were especially well suited for studying the dynamics of chemical transformation over time, through metabolic pathways or life cycles. Scientists labeled phage with phosphorus-32 in order to trace the transfer of genetic material between parent and progeny in virus reproduction. Initial studies of this type did not resolve the mechanism of generational transfer but unexpectedly gave rise to a new style of molecular radiobiology based on the inactivation of phage by the radioactive decay of incorporated phosphorus-32. These 'suicide experiments', a preoccupation of phage researchers in the mid-1950s, reveal how molecular biologists interacted with the traditions and practices of radiation geneticists as well as those of biochemists as they were seeking to demarcate a new field. The routine use of radiolabels to visualize nucleic acids emerged as an enduring feature of molecular biological experimentation.

Radioisotopes "economy of promises": on the limits of biomedicine in public legitimization of nuclear activities.

This paper aims to examine the rise and the fall of biomedicine in the public legitimization of the development of nuclear energy. Until the late 1950s, biological and medical applications of radioisotopes were presented as the most important successes of the peaceful uses of atomic energy. I will argue that despite the major financial investment, the development of the uses of radioisotopes and their important impact on biology and clinical practices, the assessment of medical uses remained relatively limited. As consequence, the place of biomedicine in the public legitimization of financial investment and civilian uses of nuclear energy began to decline from the late 1950s.

El viaje del uranio español en los años sesenta: significados y materialidades de un objeto híbrido / The journey of Spanish uranium in the sixties meanings and materialities of a hybrid object

En 1966, 137 toneladas de mineral de uranio español llegaron al puerto de Nueva Orleans procedentes del puerto de Cádiz. En este artículo quiero utilizar este viaje que conectó agentes políticos, industriales y empresariales con capacidades y experiencias técnicas, para explorar el uranio como un objeto híbrido —físico, técnico y diplomático—. El uranio conectó los intereses de las autoridades franquistas con los de los científicos y empresarios de la industria eléctrica. Sirvió al régimen de Franco para formar investigadores en nuevos métodos y prácticas experimentales y también para popularizar las políticas e ideologías atómicas de Estados Unidos. Al tiempo que alimentó los reactores nucleares, el uranio generó nuevos espacios disciplinares, modificó paisajes y diseñó nuevas cartografías industriales y administrativas. Además de ser una pieza clave en la política exterior del régimen franquista —le sirvió al régimen español para alinearse con el pensamiento occidental imperante sobre los usos civiles de la energía nuclear—, internamente sirvió para abandonar los discursos autárquicos y reforzar el poder de los tecnócratas, que utilizaron la energía atómica para transformar la producción eléctrica española. Este viaje cambió la materialidad del mineral de uranio, su física y su química, y también sus significados. (AU)

In 1966, 137 tons of Spanish uranium ore arrived at the port of New Orleans from the port of Cádiz. In this paper, I want to use this trip, which involved political, industrial, and business agents as well as technical capabilities, to explore the uranium as a hybrid object - physical, technical and diplomatic. This material connected the interests of the Franco authorities, scientists, and businessmen from the electrical industry. It served the Franco regime in training researchers, in buying and importing technologies, methods and experimental practices, and in introducing ways to popularize atomic policies and ideologies from the United States. Uranium was a fuel that not only powered nuclear reactor but also fed new disciplinary spaces, modified landscapes, and sketched new industrial and administrative cartographies. Besides being a key piece of the Franco regime’s foreign policy —it was useful to the Spanish regime to align itself with prevailing Western thought on the civil uses of nuclear energy— it served internally to effectively abandon autarchic discourses and strengthen the power of the technocrats, who used atomic energy to transform Spanish electrical production. The materiality of uranium ore changed with travel and also its meanings. (AU)

Determining Nuclear Fingerprints: Glove Boxes, Radiation Protection, and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In a nuclear laboratory, a glove box is a windowed, sealed container equipped with two flexible gloves that allow the user to manipulate nuclear materials from the outside in an ostensibly safe environment. As a routine laboratory device, it invites neglect from historians and storytellers of science. Yet, since especially the Gulf War, glove boxes have put the interdependence of science, diplomacy, and politics into clear relief. Standing at the intersection of history of science and international history, technological materials and devices such as the glove box can provide penetrating insight into the role of international diplomatic organizations to the global circulation and control of scientific knowledge. The focus here is on the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Imaginaries of nuclear energy in the Portuguese parliament: Between promise, risk, and democracy.

This article explores the evolution of the nuclear energy debate and its associated controversies in the Portuguese parliament. The analysis focuses on the dictatorial regime of the New State (from the beginning of the nuclear program in 1951 until the 1974 revolution) and on the democratic period (post-1974). Portugal, as an exporting country of uranium minerals, significantly invested in the development of a national capacity in nuclear research, but never developed an endogenous nuclear power infrastructure. Through the analysis of parliamentary debates, this article characterizes the dynamic evolution of the Portuguese sociotechnical imaginary on nuclear energy and technology interlinked with ambivalent representations, including the promise of nuclear energy as key for the constitution of a technological Nation or as prompting new sociotechnical risks.

The Radium Terrors. Science Fiction and Radioactivity before the Bomb.

At the beginning of the 20th century the collective imagination was fascinated and terrified by the discovery of radium. A scientific imagery sprang up around radioactivity and was disseminated by public lectures and newspaper articles discussing the ambiguous power of this strange substance. It was claimed that radium could be used to treat cholera, typhus and tuberculosis, but at the same time there were warnings that it could be used for military purposes. The media and the scientists themselves employed a rich vocabulary influenced by religion, alchemy and magic. The ambivalent power of radioactive elements exerted a great influence on science fiction novelists. This paper will examine some significant works published in Europe, America and Russia during the first decades of the 20th century and their role in the creation of the complex imagery of radioactivity that seized the public imagination long before the invention of the atomic bomb.

Biological citizenship: the science and politics of Chernobyl-exposed populations.

In the transition out of socialism to market capitalism, bodies, populations, and categories of citizenship have been reordered. The rational-technical management of group affected by the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine is a window into this contested process. Chernobyl exemplifies a moment when scientific knowability collapsed and new maps and categories of entitlement emerged. Older models of welfare rely on precise definitions situating citizens and their attributes on a cross-mesh of known categories upon which claims rights are based. Here one observes how ambiguities related to categorizing suffering created a political field in which a state, forms of citizenship, and informal economies were remade.

[Living without atomic power? Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker as expert in the nuclear energy debate of the 1970's]. / Ohne Atomkraft leben? Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker als Experte in der Kernenergiedebatte der 1970er Jahre.

Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker crossed the boundaries separating science, politics and the public sphere. In this he was led by the conviction that scientists in the modern 'technical age' are responsible for consequences resulting from their applied knowledge. Weizsäcker tried to introduce his knowledge into the policy process by advising politicians or by using the public sphere, thus applying pressure on politics. This was not only true for the 'Göttinger Erklärung' in 1957 but also for his engagement in the nuclear energy debate of the 1970s. Influenced by the 'Limits to Growth' discourse, Weizsäcker more and more gravitated towards an ecological world view and increasingly questioned material growth as well as a techno-scientific based understanding of progress. Weizsäcker thought about risks of the technical age in general and of the use of nuclear energy in particular. In the light of a growing fragmentation of scientific authority, Weizsäcker revealed uncertainty as he became fully aware that expertise cannot be based on scientific reason and cannot code the problems in terms of truth, but is inextricably linked with value spheres and contingencies. Nevertheless, his expertise was utilized as he encouraged parts of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) around Erhard Eppler to think about alternatives in energy policy.

Uso de radioisótopos en medicina. El rol de la Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica en su impulso (1950-1982) / Use of radioisotopes in medicine. The role of the National Atomic Energy Comission in its development (1950-1982)

La política de desarrollo autónomo desplegada por la Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica al cabo de sus primeras tres décadas de vida, condujo a la expansión y enraizamiento del sector nuclear argentino en diversas areas. Con respecto al área médica, si bien el uso de radioisótopos con fines clínicos, así como de investigación contaba al momento de la emergencia del sector nuclear, con un significante número de antecedentes en el país, con la institucionalización de las actividades nucleares, a partir de la creación de la Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica en 1950, el desarrollo de las aplicaciones nucleares con fines médicos cobraría un fuerte impulso. Esto fue así, en la medida en que se destinaron esfuerzos en: investigación y capacitación, abastecimiento de radioisótopos y puesta en marcha de centros clínicos de medicina nuclear. En este artículo, entonces, veremos como la búsqueda de capacidades científico-tecnológicas propias tuvo cierto paralelismo en el área médica, logrando incipientes descubrimientos científicos, el autoabastecimiento de radioisótopos y la operación de dos centros clínicos que prestaban asistencia a pacientes

During its first three decades of life, the National Atomic Energy Comission unrolled an autonomous policy of development that lead to the expansion and embedment of the Argentinian nuclear sector in different fields. Although in the medical field, the use of radioisotopes for research and clinical purposes held, at the emergence of the nuclear sector, with a significant number of studies, with the institutionalization of nuclear activities, with the creation of the National Atomic Energy Comission in 1950, the development of nuclear applications for medical purposes gained great impulse. This was possible, due to the assignment of resources in three strategic lines: investigation and professional training, provision of radioisotopes and administration and operation of clinical centers of nuclear medicine. In this article, then, we will see how the quest for autonomous technology development had its side effects in the medical area, leading to important scientific discoveries, the self-supply of radioisotopes and the operation of two clinic centers of nuclear medicine that provided care to patients