The Monticello Radiation-Standards Controversy, Health Physics, and the Interplay of Politics with Science in the Context of the Civilian Nuclear Power Debate

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This dissertation project is an investigation of the interplay of the Monticello radiation-standards debate with the specialty of health physics. It focuses on an understanding of the history of health physics and of the mechanisms by which politics interacted with science in the context of the civilian nuclear power debate. Through the examination of the unexplored impact the Monticello controversy had on health physic's concepts and profession, the study offers a promising basis on which to elaborate some of the most prominent arguments of the social construction of science. The funds will be used to research documents used by each of the protagonist parties in the Monticello debate, on documents pertaining to the history of health physics, and on oral interviews with scientists who participated in the debate and/or were members of the Health Physics Society.