Louis Hempelmann
Louis Hempelmann | |
---|---|
St. Louis, Missouri | |
Occupation | Physician |
Known for | Manhattan Project |
Louis Henry Hempelmann Jr, (March 5, 1914 – June 21, 1993) was an American physician who was the director of the Health Group at the
Early life
Louis Henry Hempelmann Jr. was born in
In 1941, Sherwood Moore, the director of
When he returned to the Mallinckrodt Institute, the cyclotron had been completed, but was being used to manufacture plutonium, so instead Hempelmann established a radioactive phosphorus clinic along the lines of Lawrence's one in Berkeley.[2][4]
Manhattan Project
In early 1943, Hempelmann was summoned to a meeting in
On June 5, 1943, Hempelmann married Elinor Pulitzer. She was a granddaughter of the newspaper publisher
The first year at Los Alamos was uneventful for the Health Group, which researched the extent of variation in blood counts. The range of variation was found to be higher than expected. This might have resulted in misdiagnosis of overexposure. Serious health issues began to occur in 1944, with the arrival of the first samples of plutonium. Plutonium is similar to
An accident occurred on August 1, 1944, when chemist
The accident brought to a head dissatisfaction in both the Health Group and the Chemistry and Metallurgy Division with the progress of research into biological aspects of plutonium.[8] A committee was established consisting of Hempelmann, Joseph W. Kennedy and Arthur Wahl to develop tests for overexposure to plutonium. At the time the main means of testing was by taking swabs from the nostrils. A better assay test was devised in January 1945 that could detect plutonium in urine in quantities as low as 10−10 micrograms per liter. The test came into general use in April 1945, just in time for the arrival of larger quantities of plutonium produced at the Hanford Site. Because it was time-consuming, reliance was still placed on nose tests, those that registered as most exposed being singled out for urine tests. These indicated that four persons had more than the microgram of plutonium considered safe.[14]
Plutonium was not the only radioactive hazard. There was also polonium, although it never became a serious problem. In 1944 three more dangers appeared: the water boiler aqueous homogeneous reactor, which occasionally sprang a leak and emitted radioactive gases; the RaLa Experiments, which used quantities of highly radioactive materials; and critical assembly experiments, which were particularly dangerous because they seemed so safe that they engendered a sense of complacency in the experimenters.[14] These experiments resulted in two fatal accidents, causing the deaths of physicists Harry Daghlian in August 1945 and Louis Slotin in May 1946.[15] Hempelmann later published a detailed account of these accidents in the Annals of Internal Medicine.[16][17] Hempelmann and his collaborator George L. Voelz continued to study the 27 survivors of these accidents. None showed any signs of radiogenic disease until 1990, when one developed osteosarcoma.[16][18]
Hempelmann was involved in the planning of the
Post-war
Hempelmann left Los Alamos in 1948, and went to
In 1952, Hempelmann published a collaborative review of thirty people who had been treated with radium as part of medical treatment, or had ingested radium as
The Hempelmanns divided their time between Rochester and a property they purchased in
Notes
- ^ a b c "Louis H. Hempelmann". Atomic Heritage Foundation. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Miller & Koszalka 1993, p. 435.
- ^ a b c "L.H. Hempelmann, 79; Led Los Alamos Study". The New York Times. July 1, 1993. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hempelmann, Louis Henry (August 10, 1983). "Louis Hempelmann Interview – Part 1" (Interview). Interviewed by Martin J. Sherwin. Rochester: Manhattan Project Voices. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
- ^ a b c Hacker 1987, pp. 59–60.
- ^ Hempelmann, Louis Henry (August 10, 1983). "Louis Hempelmann Interview – Part 4" (Interview). Interviewed by Martin J. Sherwin. Rochester: Manhattan Project Voices. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
- ^ Hawkins 1961, p. 36.
- ^ a b c Hawkins 1961, pp. 59–62.
- ^ a b c d "Obituary of Elinor Hempelmann: Granddaughter of Joseph Pulitzer, wife of atomic bomb scientist". St. Louis Public Radio. September 5, 2012. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
- ^ Streshinsky & Klaus 2013, p. 51.
- ^ Hempelmann, Louis Henry (August 10, 1983). "Louis Hempelmann Interview – Part 3" (Interview). Interviewed by Martin J. Sherwin. Rochester: Manhattan Project Voices. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
- ^ Welsome 1999, pp. 15–19.
- ^ Moss & Eckhard 1995, p. 190.
- ^ a b Hawkins 1961, pp. 183–186.
- ^ Hacker 1987, p. 73.
- ^ a b c d e f Miller & Koszalka 1993, p. 436.
- ^ Hempelmann, Lisco & Hoffman 1952, p. 279.
- ^ Voelz & Lawrence 1991, pp. 181–190.
- ^ Hempelmann 1949, pp. 335–336.
- ^ a b Hempelmann, Louis Henry (August 10, 1983). "Louis Hempelmann Interview – Part 2" (Interview). Interviewed by Martin J. Sherwin. Rochester: Manhattan Project Voices. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
References
- Hacker, Barton C. (1987). The Dragon's Tail: Radiation Safety in the Manhattan Project, 1942–1946. University of California Press. OCLC 13794117.
- doi:10.2172/1087644. LAMS-2532-VOL1. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
- Hempelmann, Louis H. (September 1, 1949). "Potential Dangers in the Uncontrolled Use of Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscopes". New England Journal of Medicine. 241 (9): 335–336. PMID 18148162.
- Hempelmann, Louis H.; Lisco, Hermann; Hoffman, Joseph G. (February 1, 1952). "The Acute Radiation Syndrome: A Study of Nine Cases and a Review of the Problem". Annals of Internal Medicine. 36 (2 Part 1): 279–510. PMID 14895043.
- Miller, Robert W.; Koszalka, Thomas R. (December 1993). "Louis H. Hempelmann (1914-1993): An Appreciation". Radiation Research. 136 (3): 435–438. JSTOR 3578557.
- Moss, William; Eckhard, Roger (1995). "The Human Plutonium Injection Experiments". Los Alamos Science (23): 177–233. ISSN 0273-7116. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
- Streshinsky, Shirley; Klaus, Patricia (2013). An Atomic Love Story: The Extraordinary Women in Robert Oppenheimer's Life. New York: Turner Publishing. OCLC 849822662.
- Voelz, George L.; Lawrence, J. N. P. (August 1991). "A 42-y Medical Follow-up of Manhattan Project Plutonium Workers". Health Physics. 61 (2): 181–190. PMID 1856080. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
- Welsome, Eileen (1999). The Plutonium Files: America's Secret Medical Experiments in the Cold War. New York: The Dial Press. OCLC 537755781.