Archive description
Merril Eisenbud was interviewed on January 26, 1995 by representatives of the US DOE Office of Human Radiation Experiments. Following a brief biographical sketch, Mr. Eisenbud relates his remembrances as the AEC`s first industrial hygienist, the setting up of AEC`s Health and Safety Laboratory, monitoring radioactive fallout, and use or exposure of humans to radiation.
Document text
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May 1995 Interview with Merril Eisenbud Setting: January 26,1995, Chapel Hill, North Caroltna Interviewers: Thomas Fisher, Jr. and David Harrell, DOE Office of Human Radiation Experiments Conducied on January 26,1995, in Chtqtel Hill, North Carolina, by Thomas J. Fisher, Jr. and David S. Harrellfrom the Office of Human Radiation Experi Merril Eisenbud was selectedfor the oral history project because o f hisformer & Sitfety Laboratory (HASL) and Manager of the New York Operations Office, and because of his research into the effects of environmental radioactivity. The oral history covers Mr. Eisenbud’s long career, focusing on the years spent founding and mumming UteHealth Safety Laboratory, his research on radio active fallout in the United States and abroad, and his ejtyeriences with early occupational exposure, especially in uranium processing. Mr. Eisenbud received his BSEE (Electrical Engineering) from New York University (NYU) in 1936. Mr. Eisenbud is married and has three children. Mr. Eisenbud be^m his career as an Industrial Hygjenist with the Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. (1936 to 1947). in 1945, he was appointed an Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine at NYU Medical Center. In 1947, he was asked to serve as Director of the AEC’s new Health & Safety Laboratory in New Yorii, a position he held until 1957. During this time, HASL was instrumental in alerting people to start monitoring fiillout and participated fully in Operation Sunshine. From 1954 to 1957, Mr. Eisenbud concurrentiy managed the New Yorii Operations OfBce for the AEC, sriiich was responsible for the procurement of all uranium for the entire Complex. In 1959, he retired from the AEC to teach and perform research full-time at NYU, eventually serving as Director of the University’s Laboratory for Envi ronmental Studies. As New York City’s first Environmental Protection Admin istrator, from 1968 to 1970 during the Lindsay Administration, Eisenbud was perhaps the first official in the United States to have that title. Mr. Eisenbud has also served in the following positions: 1956-1982, Member, Board on Radioactive Waste Management, National 1957-1985, Member, Expert Panel on Radiation, The World Health Orga 1964 to present. Member, National Council on Radiation Protection and 1969-1981, Member, New York State Health Advisory Council; Member, the National Advisory Council of the Electric Power Research 1964-1966, President, Health Physics Society.
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