At this meeting, it was decided that Dr. Warren should be responsible for the medical care and protection against health hazards of all the individuals that were to be working for the Manhattan Engineer District, whose secret goal was the development and production of the atomic bomb. the choice was an appropriate one, since Dr. Warren's research and published findings have all been in the general field of the effects on the human body of all types of radiation. Since 1925 he had been chief of the Department of Radiology of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Strong Memorial Hospital.
The two initial problems which faced Dr. Warren were: (1) to outline in detail a medical program for the Manhattan Engineer District and (2) to design and erect a building at Rochester in which in which could be organized a research group to investigate heretofore unexplored fields in medical research on the effects of radiation and other problems related to the development and production of the atomic bomb."
(Dowdy, Andrew H., 1945, pg. 1)
In 1939, word reaches Einstein through Hungarian-born physicist Leo Szilard that the Nazis had banned the export of uranium form Germany and German-occupied territory, including the rich Joachimsthal mines in Czechoslovakia. Einstein and Szilard concluded that the Germans were making a weapon of unprecedented force. At the urging of the President's science adviser, Alexander Sachs, the two composed a letter to Roosevelt, though only Einstein signed the letter because he alone had sufficient status to attract presidential attention. 'It is conceivable,' the physicists warned the President, '... that extremely powerful bombs of new type may thus be constructed.' They beseeched Roosevelt to counter the German threat with an American atomic-bomb project.
Their advice served as an early blueprint for the Manhattan Project which fully developed in 1942."
(The Manhattan Project, 1991, pg. 16)
(2) to advise these plants how to protect their personnel from exposure to radiation by (a) determining "tolerance standards" for doses of radiation: (b) developing instruments to measure the exposure which these workers received: (c) determining by measurement which areas in the plants showed the greatest intensity of radiation; (d) determining the amount of contamination of workers' clothing with radioactive materials, and (e) advising what precautions should be taken to safeguard the workers.
(3) to establish safeguards to eliminate the exposure of personnel to uranium dusts.
(4) to investigate, by research, the effects of exposure to radiation when received directly.
(Dowdy, Andrew H., 1945, pg. 6)
The Division of Special problems was concerned primarily with devising and developing electronic instruments to measure the amount of radiation exposure in plants engaged on atomic bomb work. The members of this Division worked with the Eastman Kodak Company and other Rochester industries to obtain materials and parts with which to build these instruments.
This large Division was given the task of determining the toxicology and pharmacology of uranium compounds and of establishing criteria for tolerance levels. It was divided into five major sections: Section on Inhalation, Section on Pharmacology, Analytical Chemistry Section, Mechanism Section, and the Engineering Section.
By using a General Electric Million Volt X-ray machine and other radiation therapy machines built by the Picker X-ray Corporation, various species of animals were given known amounts of daily radiation over long periods of time to determine what physiological changes occurred in the body as a result of exposure which could be safely tolerated by human beings.
Studies were undertaken by this Division to investigate what effects, if any, were produced on offspring whose parents had been exposed to radiation.
In conjunction with the work done by the Divisions of Pharmacology, Radiology, and Special Problems, the Hematology Division studied the effects of analyses on the blood which had to be done on large groups of animals, and a laboratory was set up for "mass production."
Representative experimental animals of various species were autopsied and their organs were examined grossly and microscopically. From these findings an estimation was made of the type and extent of the injury to the body tissues as a result of various methods of exposure.
Mr. Norman G. Oakes
Many of the divisions required special instruments for a specific purpose which either were unobtainable or had not yet been designed. The Instrument Division aided in the design and construction of such instruments and apparatus.
Through the use of an ultra-violet spectrograph and other specially designed equipment, Dr. Steedman, with the assistance of Dr. Herbert E. Thompson, Jr., and others, determined to what extent, if any, heavy metals were appearing in the urine of employees in the bomb plants, or in the tissues of experimental animals.
It is essential, of course, that laboratory animals be properly cared for with respect to housing, cleanliness, feeding and general state of health, both for the well being of the animals themselves and to prevent the introduction of extraneous factors which might affect the validity of the experimental results. Dr. Bacon was responsible for maintain high standards of health and general care in the Project's animal colonies.
Mr. David V. Tiedman
Experimental data collected by the various divisions were here subjected to statistical analysis. This insured uniformity of treatment of all data and facilitated the coordination of results in determining the effects of irradiation and uranium on several species of animals.
(Dowdy, Andrew H.,1945, pgs. 6-17)
Stoff, Michael B., Fanton, Jonathan F., Williams, R. Hal, "The Manhattan Project", Temple University Press, Philadelphia PA,1991
Szasz, Ferenc Morton, "The Day the Sun Rose Twice", University of New Mexico Press, Alburquerdue NM, 1984