The Laboratory for Radioactivity consisted of only two rooms at the time; at a later date, when tests of radioactive substances became more extensive, it expanded into four rooms.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
In the 19th century, if you had a basement lab, you could make major scientific discoveries in your own home. Right? Because there was all this science just lying around waiting for somebody to pick it up.
My time inside there was very short compared to the amount of time it took to take on and take off this suit and to test me for how much radioactivity I have.
One room is always enough for one person. Two rooms is not enough for two people. That is one of the conundrums in life.
The pattern of things was that each of the research students would be doing some particular experiment on the accelerator, often involving the building of counters or a system like that.
The place where we were operating was not fit to be called an operating room. Aseptic work had not been done in it for some years. The floor could not be scrubbed properly, or the water would go through on the laboratories below.
I went in, and there, in the front room, a converted bedroom, sat the first radio I had ever seen. The equipment was so bulky that it took up one entire wall of the bedroom. The set, which could send or receive signals, was tuned to KDKA in Pittsburgh, and I remember being completely flabbergasted at the thought of sounds coming from that box.
For the past 30 years, I have been committed to the development and application of radioisotopic methodology to analyze the fine structure of biologic systems.
Radiation is relentless: my protocol is five days a week, 33 sessions altogether.
I started the nuclear medicine laboratory at UW Hospitals in 1959 and trained radiology residents in the field. It was 1965 before they found a trained MD (doctor) to take over my role.
We had a one bedroom, one bathroom, one closet apartment with four girls.