"Father of Anti-Nuclear Movement" Dead at 88

John Gofman paid a heavy career price for going public with his concerns about low-level radiation back when everyone else of similar scientific credentials was going along to get along with the industry and its political cheerheaders.  A tip of the hat in his passing.

John W. Gofman, 88, Scientist and Advocate for Nuclear Safety, Dies - NY Times - 26 Aug 07

"In 1964, while he was director of the biomedical research division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, Dr. Gofman helped start a national inquiry into the safety of atomic power. At a symposium for nuclear scientists and engineers, he raised questions about a lack of data on low-level radiation and also proposed a wide-ranging study of exposure in medicine and the workplace, from fallout and other sources.

With a colleague at Livermore, Dr. Arthur R. Tamplin, Dr. Gofman then looked at health studies of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as other epidemiological studies, and conducted his own research on radiation’s influences on human chromosomes. In 1969, the two scientists suggested that federal safety guidelines for low-level exposures be reduced by 90 percent.  The findings were contested by the Atomic Energy Commission, and the furor made Dr. Gofman a reluctant figurehead of the antinuclear movement."

John W. Gofman, 88; Medical Physicist Warned of the Health Effects of Radiation - LA Times - 28 Aug 07

"Their publication of the data, despite strong efforts to censor it, led them to lose virtually all of their research funding and, eventually, their positions at the government laboratory.  Most of their conclusions have subsequently been validated, but critics say the risks have been ignored by an electric power industry that sees nuclear energy as a pollution-free alternative to fossil fuels and by a medical industry that continues to use much larger amounts of radiation for medical tests than are required.  'He always stood up for the integrity of science,' said Charles Weiner, professor emeritus of the history of science at MIT."

"Father of Anti-Nuclear Movement" Dead at 88

John Gofman paid a heavy career price for going public with his concerns about low-level radiation back when everyone else of similar scientific credentials was going along to get along with the industry and its political cheerheaders.  A tip of the hat in his passing.

John W. Gofman, 88, Scientist and Advocate for Nuclear Safety, Dies - NY Times - 26 Aug 07

"In 1964, while he was director of the biomedical research division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, Dr. Gofman helped start a national inquiry into the safety of atomic power. At a symposium for nuclear scientists and engineers, he raised questions about a lack of data on low-level radiation and also proposed a wide-ranging study of exposure in medicine and the workplace, from fallout and other sources.

With a colleague at Livermore, Dr. Arthur R. Tamplin, Dr. Gofman then looked at health studies of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as other epidemiological studies, and conducted his own research on radiation’s influences on human chromosomes. In 1969, the two scientists suggested that federal safety guidelines for low-level exposures be reduced by 90 percent.  The findings were contested by the Atomic Energy Commission, and the furor made Dr. Gofman a reluctant figurehead of the antinuclear movement."

John W. Gofman, 88; Medical Physicist Warned of the Health Effects of Radiation - LA Times - 28 Aug 07

"Their publication of the data, despite strong efforts to censor it, led them to lose virtually all of their research funding and, eventually, their positions at the government laboratory.  Most of their conclusions have subsequently been validated, but critics say the risks have been ignored by an electric power industry that sees nuclear energy as a pollution-free alternative to fossil fuels and by a medical industry that continues to use much larger amounts of radiation for medical tests than are required.  'He always stood up for the integrity of science,' said Charles Weiner, professor emeritus of the history of science at MIT."