Human radiation studies: Remembering the early years: Oral history of cell biologist Don Francis Petersen, Ph.D., conducted November 29, 1994

This report is a transcript of an interview of Dr. Don Francis Petersen by representatives of the US DOE Office of Human Radiation Experiments. Dr. Petersen was selected for this interview because of his long research career at Los Alamos and his knowledge of the Atomic Energy Commission`s biomedical program. Dr. Petersen did not personally conduct research on human subjects. After a brief biographical sketch Dr. Petersen discusses his remembrances of the early use of radionuclides as biological tracers, aspects of nuclear weapons testing in the 1940`s and 1950`s including fallout studies, the means by which research projects were approved, use of humans in the whole-body counter, and the Health Division Biomedical responsibilities