RADIO(active) Waves

In this month’s episode of RADIO(active) Waves, David and Anna celebrate their first in-person recording session by giving the audience a special treat. Since the 1940s, Walt Disney and his company have been striving to envision a futuristic world of tomorrow. Today we discuss the ways that Mr. Disney and “the Mouse” have interacted with and encouraged the Atomic Age. Please feel free to check out some illustrations from the picture book “Our Friend the Atom” here: https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/02/18/our-friend-the-atom-disney/

In this month’s episode of RADIO(active) Waves, Anna and David discuss the prolific physicist Chien-Shiung Wu. Dr. Wu is renown for her contributions to the field of physics and her work, which spanned most of the 20th Century, impacted this field both scientifically and socially as she holds the record of “first woman” in several of the positions that she held throughout her career. Please join us to celebrate her life and visit the Atomic History Foundation website to view her profile: https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/chien-shiung-wu

This episode celebrates Black History Month and the often-overlooked African American scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project. Here, we discuss Jasper B. Jeffries’ life and his contributions to atomic history. To learn more about Jeffries and other African American scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project, please visit our partner organization at manhattanprojectvoices.org.

In the final installment of our interview series with Hal Behl, Manhattan Project veteran and Board of Trustees emeritus member at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, Hal revisits his time living in Oak Ridge and, after the war, working at Boeing. He discusses some other important milestones in his life as well as some of the “things that we scrounged” for the museum. Hal speaks about everything from “top secret” slabs of lead, to Hal’s help with his boss’s NASA problems. Join us to hear about this and more!

Happy Holidays everyone! Today we’d like to give you all a little festive greeting card of a podcast episode to thank you for listening and to close out the year on a festive note. Thank you so much for listening and see you next year!

Episode seven of RADIO(active) Waves continues our interview series with Hal Behl, Manhattan Project Veteran and Board of Trustees member emeritus at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History. Today we explore Hal’s experiences working in the nuclear industry developing delivery systems, as well as his work highlighting nuclear medicine in the museum’s exhibits and collections. This mission to include nuclear medicine presented the opportunity for Hal to meet Glen Seaborg and earn his self-proclaimed title of “Joint Chairman of the Chief of Scroungers.”

In the second installment of our interview series with Hal Behl, Board of Trustees member emeritus of the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, we explore Hal’s connections to the museum. This interview takes place at Hal Behl’s residence in Albuquerque, NM where David interviewed him about his life. This portion of the interview gives us a peek behind the scenes into Hal’s instrumental work facilitating the acquisition of several of the museum’s missiles and airplanes and developing the museum’s collections.

In this first installment of our interview series we hear from Hal Behl, Board of Trustee Emeritus of the National museum of Nuclear Science & History. Hal has had an interesting life and has been featured in television and other media for his part in the Manhattan Project. This interview takes place at Hal Behl’s residence in Albuquerque, NM. This portion of the interview gives us Hal speaking about his early years in the Bronx, his military career, and touches briefly on his time at Oak Ridge.

In this episode of Radio(active) Waves, we revisit the collections' storage and do a deep dive on a man named H. Russell Burner. This charlatan became known within the medical community of Southern California during the first decade of the 20th Century for peddling his "Radium, Milk, and Rest Cure". This "cure" was available for purchase at any of the locations of Burner's chain of sanitoriums. Join us to learn more about this fascinating and unscrupulous man.

In the second installment of our series on safety, we track the historical development of safety measures surrounding radiation. The more that was learned about radiation, the more complex our understanding of atomic science became. This allowed for more advanced measures to be taken to protect those who work with these types of materials. Today we understand that, with the right precautions, radioactive materials can be important and far less dangerous than they once were.