4 ms·

Very interesting. Many photographers and famous scientists died because of this kind of experiments. At that time the effects of radiations were now well know.

hugh3 16y ago
How many photographers, and which famous scientists in particular? edit: I'm not just being a dick, I'm just not aware of significant numbers of casualties from nuclear tests, and certainly not among famous scientists. Here's what seems to be a complete list of known casualties from nuclear testing: http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/tests/index.html http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/tests/index.html The death rate from US nuclear tests appears to be one dude who died due to fallout at Bikini Atoll (eighteen years after the actual test) and one dude who fell into a collapsing pit at a test site in Nevada.
- whyme 16y ago
  Not to disagree, but I wonder how many of them got cancer or some after effect where no one bothered to make the correlations. My Grandmother, while in the Canadian Airforce, was subjected to radiation tests(She and others were placed in a bunker during these tests). 60 years later when I look back upon the health problems she went through I can't help but wonder if there was a link. Of course no one, in my family, ever brought it up or even discussed the possibility.
- Lazlo_Nibble 16y ago
  That's the death rate that can be clearly and unambiguously tied to something that happened during a test. The problem is that deaths due to radiation exposure can take place years or decades after that exposure, and the data needed to clearly connect the two is often classified, lost, or was never gathered in the first place. At best, you'll uncover a statistical correlation (e.g., the ten cases of leukemia recorded in later years among the troops who were present at the Smokey shot, where only four would be statistically expected). Having said that, I suspect that the number of folks who died as a direct result of exposure during tests that they participated in was relatively small, particularly compared to what happened to the folks who lived downwind of the NTS during the atmospheric-testing era. The troops in the Desert Rock exercises were in and out in hours -- but the downwinders lived in fallout contaminated areas for extended periods of time, ate food raised on or grown in contaminated soil, etc. And then there's the cast and crew of The Conquerer...
  - kjuhyghjk 16y ago
    The same thing happened for British tests near Australia - although there was an increase in cancers of those present for the tests it was determined that this was due to the control group (soldier not at at the tests) were unnaturally healthy!
- superk 16y ago
  I remember hearing about "The Conqueror" from my parents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conqueror_(film)#Cancer_controversy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conqueror_(film)#Cancer_con... "Among the 220 or so cast and crew who filmed the 1956 film, The Conqueror, on location near St. George, Utah, ninety-one had come down with cancer, with an unheard of 41 percent morbidity rate, including stars John Wayne, Susan Hayward, and Agnes Moorehead, and director Dick Powell. The film was shot in Southwestern Utah, east of and generally downwind from where the U.S. Government had tested nuclear weapons in Southeastern Nevada, and many contend that radioactive fallout from these tests contaminated the film location and poisoned the film crew working there."
- MichaelApproved 16y ago
  I don't know about photographers or famous people but the Pacific Proving Grounds contaminated several islands in the area. Many neighboring residents have higher rates of cancer and birth defects. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Proving_Grounds#Remediation_and_compensation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Proving_Grounds#Remedia...

hugh3 16y ago

How many photographers, and which famous scientists in particular? edit: I'm not just being a dick, I'm just not aware of significant numbers of casualties from nuclear tests, and certainly not among famous scientists. Here's what seems to be a complete list of known casualties from nuclear testing: http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/tests/index.html http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/tests/index.html The death rate from US nuclear tests appears to be one dude who died due to fallout at Bikini Atoll (eighteen years after the actual test) and one dude who fell into a collapsing pit at a test site in Nevada.

whyme 16y ago
Not to disagree, but I wonder how many of them got cancer or some after effect where no one bothered to make the correlations. My Grandmother, while in the Canadian Airforce, was subjected to radiation tests(She and others were placed in a bunker during these tests). 60 years later when I look back upon the health problems she went through I can't help but wonder if there was a link. Of course no one, in my family, ever brought it up or even discussed the possibility.
Lazlo_Nibble 16y ago
That's the death rate that can be clearly and unambiguously tied to something that happened during a test. The problem is that deaths due to radiation exposure can take place years or decades after that exposure, and the data needed to clearly connect the two is often classified, lost, or was never gathered in the first place. At best, you'll uncover a statistical correlation (e.g., the ten cases of leukemia recorded in later years among the troops who were present at the Smokey shot, where only four would be statistically expected). Having said that, I suspect that the number of folks who died as a direct result of exposure during tests that they participated in was relatively small, particularly compared to what happened to the folks who lived downwind of the NTS during the atmospheric-testing era. The troops in the Desert Rock exercises were in and out in hours -- but the downwinders lived in fallout contaminated areas for extended periods of time, ate food raised on or grown in contaminated soil, etc. And then there's the cast and crew of The Conquerer...
- kjuhyghjk 16y ago
  The same thing happened for British tests near Australia - although there was an increase in cancers of those present for the tests it was determined that this was due to the control group (soldier not at at the tests) were unnaturally healthy!
superk 16y ago
I remember hearing about "The Conqueror" from my parents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conqueror_(film)#Cancer_controversy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conqueror_(film)#Cancer_con... "Among the 220 or so cast and crew who filmed the 1956 film, The Conqueror, on location near St. George, Utah, ninety-one had come down with cancer, with an unheard of 41 percent morbidity rate, including stars John Wayne, Susan Hayward, and Agnes Moorehead, and director Dick Powell. The film was shot in Southwestern Utah, east of and generally downwind from where the U.S. Government had tested nuclear weapons in Southeastern Nevada, and many contend that radioactive fallout from these tests contaminated the film location and poisoned the film crew working there."
MichaelApproved 16y ago
I don't know about photographers or famous people but the Pacific Proving Grounds contaminated several islands in the area. Many neighboring residents have higher rates of cancer and birth defects. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Proving_Grounds#Remediation_and_compensation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Proving_Grounds#Remedia...