The Rochester Story

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a luncheon conf'emnce for el11 undisclosed purpose, Tnwe Dr, Varron m o t Tnis appoin-hm-t was laker for the medical care mc3 protaction agsinst health ha&rds ofall the individuals rai f i e l d of the eff8c-x on the humm body af LII t3Tpe.s of radia5ion. Since 1925-he had been c h i d of -&e Depertresurt of BEdlology of the UzliverslQ of tril a medical. progrm for the &m.h.~ttanEngineer Dis-trict end ( 2 ) to design vestiga-tre heretofore mexploped fields in medical reseerch on. +he effects iatdon and other problezs relakhg to ta?e deve;Lopment and pyoduction of '&e first plms for the bwibding were Mr. Leonard Weasdorp, of Xaelber and 'Fraasdorp. Urgency dtmanded that the

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building be ready for occwpaacy on Septamber 1, 1993, The design riquired flexibility both as t o the number of p3rsonrsl to be housed ccad the type of work t o be oeisd out, Under the direction o f Dr. Tarrag, th8 iJEivsrsij,y of Rochester had recenth;; (January, 1943) cmplebd on Elwood i9.penua a tmo-stary building for to discover by means of X - x q r s de2ect; 13 castings of It vras decided to utilize the presenoe of that building 3y constructing the m w building adjacent to it, mnthe "ao f f i c e group W ~ Shoused in one of t2a3 b o room of Dr. Varran'3 ofbn aontiming into the light. banwhile, In the oubr room, the office afuaba~~usconfar~nceswere held in his office,

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consisting of guards, ar&mP caretakers, Laboratory technicians, a telephone operato=, offiae workers -4 research staff, b o k possession of the m u building, in which eleutrichns, flxsons arrd carpentars =ere bsb ning to give the finishing touches. h m i t x a e had 'men delivered but not placed, end some rooms of'vrhom were weting for &s 3rst Sac, took up broom and dust cloths and of the lines if' the telephom writchbowd had a02 %en irstalled and the n e operator plamd the first ca1:s while telephone m n worked around her xi% cord and drd, compleking the hard. Gradually $he construction m n ?nl+zhdmw, the of Piinding a sulfician-k mzbar of -?ersomel xas 3 ssricus oae. fTevertheless, a capable staff mas mcru.its1 ?,-on 1?1811~rsources and localities: from universities, ing cominunities, as well as PPQE - a.&ates in the Union ( p i z , ,- New York, Ussouri, Iew Harpahire, Vermont, IlPirofs, 'Xain3, iowa, Oregon, T e a s , Xiohigan, Indiana,

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highly sldlled and specialist Army personnel were assigned to participate in the Rochester program and they took an active p a r t i n planning and carrying out oertain phases of the research. Along with building and hiring, another problem of prfPParg importance -8 to find the neoeesary scientific equip nt, since the new ”Xedical School Annex was to house numerocs laboratorias, a l l requiring precision icstruments which =re difficult to obtain. Part of this equipment was loared by the Medical School and by Rocheater irdwtries. eearchisg end often only wikh a high priori* rating, A consfdersbls portior of i-t was transferred The rsrminder we8 purchesed after much the &matology Laborstory, set up to “counq;” &e red md white cells end the hemogLobin of the biasd, 8 courits per day, ora to;;al daily outpui; of 200 counts,5 days per week, or This laboratoqr =ow anploys 25 bchniciens, each doing some 50,000 counts per yeuo PURPOSE OF TEiE ROCHESTER PROJECT The program o f -&e reoaarch to be carried outat FLchester aaas four- (1) to analyse data of pre-employment physical examircations and of eequent re-erteminations of personnel employed by the many atomio bomb plants dl over the country, wherever these personnel were exposed to possible occu- ( 2 ) t o adds8 these plants how to protect their personnel from exposure to tim: (b) developing instruments t o measure the exposure which tbee workers received: ( 0 1 determining ly measurement which areas in the plants ahowed the greatest intensity of radiai;ion; ( d ) determining the amom+,of oontamine*;iion of workersv clothing w i t h radioactive materiala, (3) to determine how mch uranium duet was inhalad or awalluwed by the workers and thus possibly absorbed by the body,

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Medical Section of work ma done i n ao8peration with an officer of t h AT the Mantlat-a District, who trevel2ed to t)re plants and to the maearah project at -%&ester, thus keeplrg bo% groups, industrid end r e i e a r ~ h ~i n touch Iwith each d2mr7s work. Saptaln Joe 71. EmJand, of the Army lbdical Corpa, on leave fr3a the s.Fafi? of the Stroag '&noris1 % s p i t a l , WRS one of these Liaison officsrc. going to oslk Ridge, Tennoosee and h other stomic bomb plaa%a, throughout the country,'i?xluding Rochester, he and 'his s h f f mcruiked doctors and nurse8 for the hospif'tdl at oalk Ridge. for him to move his of*fics to Oak Ridge *:hi& had '3ecope 'by this eke "&e main headquarters of the &tui&.;i;m. Sngineer Districf under Colonel Icemeth 3, X3chols, in the Army Medical Corps and l e f t Paehester to be stationed at O a k Bidge, As the 3edical Section grew and

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The responsibility of aciministerirg the ?&hatten Project at Rochester was entrusted t o Dr. Andrew R, Dowdy, Associate Professor of Radioloa at the kiversity of Roohester School of Medicine and Den-i;is%ry. fell all aspeats of the research program at Rochester, as well as .the administration of such general services t o the Projeo-t as Zmploymezlt, Army h tell i gence clearace and security, Accounting, Turchasirg, I Projeot Library, I'hotographia Under his direction tion, University of Rochester. In both these respcasiThe administrative ssrvi. ~ szentioned were under US6 Virginia Shannon and 'ks. Thelm 3. Spregue, and Ur. ??orman Odfes, The research 2ro:ect was orgarxized Sy Diaisions, each did sf on being Of +he ten Division Beads.respeneible for a different tispec%of the program. eight w 8 m formerly associated d - t h the iTEiversity of Rochester. The University of Bachester School of 'Xodioine The Division of Special froblens :vas concerned primarily w i t h dsvising and devsloping electronic Zns'cnunents to ms3ure the amount of radiation exposure Q in plant8 sngaged on atoxic 3omb ?mrk. The znbers of this Division worked with the Eas.tmaa Xod& Comrjary mzd other achestar iadwrtrlea t o obtain mterials and

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k ~ hhas appeared in the newspapers about the measurements which =re made at Santa Fe and later a.t; Eiroshimo and Sagssaki, t o discover if bombs. S o b of' the bstrmell-ts used were designad and made at the Fachester sir to accompanyx&x@iGenerd. Fa well md his grmp to Japm. Tne DivisioE of Sgeoial Problem sent persoIlllsl and instruents b~ This Division also mrked in daily contact .rsilc'h the zxny industrial developed and i f they rsmzhad clear, 30 ssdiation bad reachsd the individual. If the film was clouded, soras rzdiat',on had raacbd the individual. This iaformation aided plant nan2gez-s i n deciding hen a d There employees aeedsd to wear lead rubber gloaes, lead rubber aprons, sad other protactive d0ViC08 "prospect" for radium and uranium which occur together i n nabu-e. Still other bs*-nts developed at ?acheeA&r %re rrsed in the separ ~ tin gprocess t o make

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(I. Uiv, of Special Problems, cant,) In addition to t3e Million 'Jolt and other X-ray mckines and the on the work of the Projac-L, Housed In *e 'mi3emert of the Bausch a d Lpnb Building on t;he River C a q r t s , suitable precautions were taken 80 khat only Assistant Professor of Physics, Amng o?br thes, the cyclo ~ m nwas used sad gaanna radiationo It i s Pitting Ik, 3easauer should 'nave had a part In the abmic radiologist Thoo at the ti= of the Eazis' rise to power, m 8 a merriber of the poLltica1 par9whiuh :.rad t r i e d .t;O establish 3 democratic governento Eecause and father Pled to Mtzarlend, while 'ne cwm b ais coun%ry. Born snd aduca*d in Gefiany, he is the son of a Penomed assodated with the Universibj of &chaster since 1939 and with tke Z dah ttan Projecf since the fall of 3543,

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chemistry and Pharmcology, Universiw o f Rochester .School of bbdioim m d Dentistry Ibis large Di.vision asal given the task of determining the toxicology and pharmacology of uranimpompouads aEd of establishtag crib ria for tolerance 1 e - l ~ ~I t was divided iata five major sectiona: A. Section on Inhalation: Dr. Herbert E. Sbklnger, Research Associate in Bactsriolog, University of bchester Sahool of Idedioine This group 3wii-t large "ch&ers" into dnich mere blown 'mown amounts of Val'iOuS radioactive d \ lStSe By placing different species of animals in aeae chambers, tests could be matie to determine how mch dusk an enirrral could idle safely, The Engineering Section worked in close co6petation w i t h +&is group riace tbe chambers preserted many difzYcult ecgizeering problems, and ;Ilany inThe chambars =re aidlar to -:hose used 8% the rJa?doral Instikute of Health at Bethesda and at the Fedaral GoveLmmert9s&ameu of Xines at Pittsburgh. B. Section on f harm a colo ~ :~ r .Frances L. Haven, Associate i n Biochemistry, University of Rochester School of likdicins and Dentistr: '+"he reoeach s - s d f of thia group devissd methods of analysing the urine of employees in &e bomb plarzts to c3tes.pI-rn the extent of exposure. Thir nethods enabled them to detect as little 8s L/5,000,000,000 of a gram

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ProjeotDs rat colony, mero fed various uranium compounds used i n the mufaotum of the atomic bomb. Tissues of these animals wera stu did to de bc t possible Thi6 group also studied the relative merits of different methods and agents t0 be used i n washing *-e work clothes o f empLoyees i n the plant8 i n order to find a aatisfactory laundw process whioh would eliminate a l l residue of radi oaoti.= material Chemistry, University of Rocfiestet !!he s4Yth Bsport has discussed t k a recovery or" processed uraniua compounds from the separation wits. The halgrtical Chet as sk ry laboratory at Rochester devised methods For mcovering small amunts of uranium from aolutiona containing l a r p mount8 of contamLnaCing ~lubatances, introduced W h e n the eeparation units were aleexzed out. since uranium is feq; ;ralUable it lnrt important to &cover as little a8 one ten-dIlion.e;k of an ounce from each gallon o f solution used to clean out the separation units, Uranium and radium are always found .together in nature. Hente when an ore fs processed for utanimo care must be taken t o avoid loss of the valuable radium. complete separation of Yae radium frolathe uranium. This laboratory studied mekhods for making rapid and st hods were also developed for deb mh ing the amount8 of radium ?resent in ores and other materials containing at3 little a8 a few billionths of an ounce o f radium.

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Tkis group developed methods for the detection or" the earliest signs of uranium todicity, The m0s-t;mdwa malytical tools (such as the types of dust ohembps and mas rea-pmsiSle for 4213 operation, malnterance, and safety of these chabsrs. Safety features comparable to those used in industrial plants ;=re provided t b opara5ors or" the cllambers on the Roohsster Pro jact, Varioua other problems :vera of interest t o %\e Didsion o f of drinking wakr near plant sites to discovsr the content, if app, of radioactive material; .3ffects of different diets upon &malt3 exposed to

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Ur.iverefty of Pemsylvmitr, who was srgaged during peacet i m e in inllesligrrtions on cell physiology md the rrschanim of radiation effeoks. worlred on mdical research for the Office of Scien4dff.o By ueing a Gmeral Electric lsillion Bolt X-ray mchine and other . of animal8 were 3iven haown amounts of daiLy radiation over long periods of t i m e to deb he vhat physiological c@nges accurred in t;?s jody as a rssult of erpasuw to varying ~mous-;3 of rsdiaeion. The purpose of t h i s study was to which could be safely klaretad by h u x m '6aiUgSe In addition, series of anhaLs rsa-rs exposed to sirgle I a r g s doses of radiation to determine what emourr'cs of a c u b rcdiatioa could be blerated by a population An the even%$of accideot or effiaient means of combakihg %be physiological eff'ecto of chronic aad acute radiation. Very e.r&nsiva da.ta were o b t ~ n e don animals with mgard to chemical ehanges W i n g place in the blood, tissue. md urine. A series of physiological inves%igationswas carried out, desi gt ~ d to throw lighk on the meckmism of iatoxicaJion observed a f t o r acute radiation 8ZpOSUre, and these results m y have an i m p o r t ~ ~ ~ tbearing upon the treatment of shock enoountamd in ordinary aedioal precticeo , h It mas also iiqortan-3;%o learn That effect, if n y , the handling a of radioaoP;ive material had upon the skina I&. E%mcis Bishop, Associate in Badiologyo the biversity of -%ahester SChool of %sdiclne and Dentistry,

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Radiology, the University of fiocbsbr School. of Lkdioine and Dentistry, worked o u t a method of tddng finger impressions in wax. his data he obtained sucli Zmgmsaions first Pro a doctors and dentists throughout the country who had %en bad ling radim o r operating x-ray am3 therapy maohines during varims yaws of practice. Asa result of ais study, and by bonb plants. he was &la to dtscover d e n n if bsgfmhg -to show changsq in the skin of 'cizeir :ead6 as a result of contaot with sueh rnaterisls, As a backgraund for all, these eqloyees Were Finally, expriaents -ere camiad out -arhichinvoPaed irradiasag the flngers of monkeys to debmine the relation between dosage a d degree of ahange and the extent towhich Ynem changes aig5k be &.t;ec-i;ad. bai'arcs d q e obcurredo and 3r. Varren P. Spemer, Professor of Qiology, Toaster College (on leave), and Reseamh Sssocisb in Zoalogy, Studies -re undertsken by thia Diviaior to investfgab w h a t effeots, if any, were produced on offspring whose parents had 'hen exposed to radiation, Dr, Charleso laboratory bred and studied 277,400 d e s and the labratory of Drs, Stern .and Sbpnaer studied aom 50 million fruft-flies,

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Phyeiaian, The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentietry and Strong &mx%al & spite l and (former1y)w &8d Capt. Army Yeeical Corps -A, Rys&aleo of the ~ k f fof the -&dlcal School and b 8 p i t a l In conjunction d t h *e work done by the Divisions of bannacolagy, Radiology, and Special Problem, the %matology Division studied the e ffeots of analyses on the blood -;nhich had t o be done on large groups of ~gnimals, aad.n a laboratory wais se-t up for mess product50n." This laboratory carriad out over 100,000 camplets …