Joseph Gilbert Hamilton (November 11, 1907 – February 18, 1957) was an American professor of Medical Physics, Experimental Medicine, General Medicine, and Experimental Radiology as well as director (1948-1957) of the Crocker Laboratory, part of the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), commonly referred to as the Berkeley Lab, is a United States Department of Energy National Labs, United States national laboratory that is owned by, and conducts scientific research on behalf of, t ...
. Hamilton studied the medical effects of exposure to
radioactive isotopes
A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ways: emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation; transferr ...
B.S.
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
in Chemistry in 1929 from the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
. He studied medicine in
Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
and interned at the University of California Hospital, San Francisco. He was awarded his
M.D.
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...
degree in 1936. At that time the
cyclotron
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest O. Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Janu ...
in Berkeley was among the first to produce useful amounts of radioactive isotopes which could be used in studies of their effects on living tissue. In a series of papers published in 1937 Hamilton detailed early medical trials using radioactive sodium, followed by papers detailing the use of the radioactive isotopes of potassium, chlorine, bromine, and iodine. Radioactive iodine was found to be particularly useful in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disorders.
Human testing
Concern was expressed while working on the
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
in 1944, for the safety of laboratory personnel working with newly isolated
plutonium
Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...
. Hamilton lead a team who conducted toxicity experiments on rats. Finding the results obtained with rats unsatisfactory, Hamilton was included in the decision making to continue the trials with human subjects. These trials were conducted in secret from 1945 to 1947.
Trials were carried out by three teams headed by Hamilton, Louis Hempelmann and
Wright Haskell Langham
Wright Haskell Langham (21 May 1911 – 19 May 1972) was an internationally renowned expert in the fields of plutonium exposure, aerospace and aviation medicine, Eniwetok nuclear tests, the Palomares and Greenland nuclear accidents. Sometimes Langh ...
. They consisted of injecting
plutonium
Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...
into unsuspecting human patients then measuring its concentration in excreta. During these trials 18 human subjects were injected with Plutonium, three by Joseph Gilbert Hamilton's team at University of California Hospital, San Francisco.
Albert Stevens
Albert Stevens (1887–1966), also known as patient CAL-1 and most radioactive human ever, was a house painter from Ohio who was subjected to an involuntary human radiation experiment and survived the highest known accumulated radiation dose in ...
, CAL-1, had been diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer, which was later found to have been an ulcer. Stevens is significant as he is recorded as having survived the highest known accumulated radiation dose of any human. He lived 20 years after the injection until his death at 79 years of age.
Simeon Shaw, CAL-2, was 4 years old at the time of injection and had been diagnosed with bone cancer. Shaw lived for 255 days post injection, with his cause of death being recorded as from bone cancer.
Elmer Allen, CAL-3, was 36 at the time of injection and lived for 44 years post injection, with his cause of death being recorded as respiratory failure, pneumonia. He died in 1991 shortly before
Eileen Welsome
Eileen Welsome (born March 12, 1951) is an American journalist and author. She received a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1994 while a reporter for ''The Albuquerque Tribune'' for a 3-part story titled "The Plutonium Experiment" published ...
could interview Allen for her work in exposing the trials.
Hamilton's studies of isotope retention in humans, especially of radioactive strontium and the transuranic elements, were the principal source for the
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President ...
setting of far lower tolerance limits of these substances than had been theorised before trials. This series of human trials were terminated by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1950.
The "Buchenwald touch" memo
Once the AEC took over control of the Manhattan Project's various roles, Hamilton returned to his work at Berkeley. In a memo written in 1950, Hamilton gave some recommendations to the AEC's Director of Biology and Medicine,
Shields Warren
Shields Warren (February 26, 1898 – July 1, 1980) was an American pathologist. He was among the first to study the pathology of radioactive fallout.houldbe substituted for humans in the planned studies on radiation's cognitive effects.""The Media & Me: he Radiation Story No One Would Touch, Geoffrey Sea, ''
Columbia Journalism Review
The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, ana ...
'', March/April 1994. He further warned that by using humans the AEC would be open "to considerable criticism," since the experiments as proposed had "a little of the
Buchenwald
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
touch."
Eugene Saenger
Eugene Saenger (March 5, 1917 – September 30, 2007)Thomas H. Maugh"Eugene Saenger, 90; pioneer in radiation research"''Los Angeles Times'', October 6, 2007 was an American university professor and physician. A graduate of Harvard University, ...
would be the one who carried out these experiments from 1960 to 1971 at the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', October 6, 2007
Death and legacy
Hamilton died at the age of 49. His name was added to the ''
Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations
The Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations (also known as the X-ray Martyrs' Memorial) is a memorial in Hamburg, Germany, commemorating those who died due to their work with the use of radiation, particularly X-rays, in medicine. ...
'' erected in
Hamburg
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