Skip to content
Tech News

World’s First Medical Radioactive Isotope Was Handled in Shirt and Tie

By

Reading time 1 minute

Comments (0)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has just released in high resolution this amazing historical photo. According to ORNL, in this photograph you can see two scientists as they remove the world’s first radioactive isotope produced for medical use from Oak Ridge’s Graphite Reactor, on August 2nd 1946. In compulsory collar and tie.

The man on the right is targeting a Cutie Pie handheld radiation detector toward the radioactive material. The Carbon 14 sample produced in the reactor was then shipped later to Brand Free Skin and Cancer Hospital in St. Louis. [DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory]

Share this story

Sign up for our newsletters

Subscribe and interact with our community, get up to date with our customised Newsletters and much more.