Radiation Expertise 59
The institutes that emerged since the radioactive contamination in the
Oblast’ Chelyabinsk resemble this explanatory model. In the 1960s, for example, Timofeev-Resovskii was regularly invited to present academic lectures
at the institute when he was still unable to present in Moscow. 52 Due to his
history as an alleged collaborator with Nazi Germany, Timofeev-Resovskii
was imprisoned in Germany in 1945 at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in BerlinBuch by the Soviets and then lost in the Gulag system. Given the importance
of his research, he was, by the request of Beriia, found (almost dead) in 1947
and nursed back to health in an elite NKVD hospital. Recovered, he was
brought to the secret laboratory “B” at lake Sungul’, 53 where he worked and
lived until 1955, when he was transferred to the Ural Branch of the Academy
of Sciences. From 1955 until 1964, when he moved to Obninsk, he worked
at the experimental station Miassovo in summertime and Sverdlovsk (today
Ekaterinburg) during winter. 54
During his time in the secret laboratory, his research was devoted to the
biological treatment of radioactively contaminated water. 55 At the FIB-4,
he held lectures about radiation genetics and radiation-induced mutation. 56
However, the intellectual freedom granted to him was limited. In his
memoirs, Timofeev-Resovskii commented on the secretiveness of the system and its impacts on research. He claimed that it was not the US-American
scientists discovered the application of isotopes in medicine and water
isotope biology, but the Soviet scientists. Unlike in the United States, as
Timofeev-Resovskii pointed out, where the research results were published,
in the Soviet Union, the reports were sent to Sredmash, the “abyss,” where
they were forgotten. 57
A number of secret research facilities were built in the vicinity of the Soviet
nuclear complex to tackle the radiating consequences of the military-industrial
complex. This combined with the intellectual freedom granted under the
umbrella of the atomic project laid the foundation for various research in the
field of radiation knowledge and radiation protection knowledge production.
Scientists in these research facilities contributed to the emerging research
fields of radioecology and radiobiology. However, due to secrecy, most of
the research results had to be kept secret. Thus, personal experience became
crucial. Among others, physicians and scientists like Angelina K. Gus’kova,
Igor K. Dibobes, Yuri I. Moskalev and Pavel I. Moiseitsev made their careers
based on their practical experience as physicians and conducted research in
the Chelyabinsk region.
P.I. Moiseitsev was born in 1917 and became the head of the MSO-71 of
the Mayak radiochemical plant, which was established in 1947 and later reorganized into the FIB-1. In the early 1960s, he was the head of the department
of radiation safety of the USSR Ministry of Public Health. In performance of
his duties, he was one of the organizers of measures and legal procedures of
radiation protection in the Soviet Union. 58
Iuri I. Moskalev worked in the 1950s at the FIB-1 in Chelyabinsk-40
and was remembered in the above quotation by Goldman. After the 1957
The institutes that emerged since the radioactive contamination in the
Oblast’ Chelyabinsk resemble this explanatory model. In the 1960s, for example, Timofeev-Resovskii was regularly invited to present academic lectures
at the institute when he was still unable to present in Moscow. 52 Due to his
history as an alleged collaborator with Nazi Germany, Timofeev-Resovskii
was imprisoned in Germany in 1945 at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in BerlinBuch by the Soviets and then lost in the Gulag system. Given the importance
of his research, he was, by the request of Beriia, found (almost dead) in 1947
and nursed back to health in an elite NKVD hospital. Recovered, he was
brought to the secret laboratory “B” at lake Sungul’, 53 where he worked and
lived until 1955, when he was transferred to the Ural Branch of the Academy
of Sciences. From 1955 until 1964, when he moved to Obninsk, he worked
at the experimental station Miassovo in summertime and Sverdlovsk (today
Ekaterinburg) during winter. 54
During his time in the secret laboratory, his research was devoted to the
biological treatment of radioactively contaminated water. 55 At the FIB-4,
he held lectures about radiation genetics and radiation-induced mutation. 56
However, the intellectual freedom granted to him was limited. In his
memoirs, Timofeev-Resovskii commented on the secretiveness of the system and its impacts on research. He claimed that it was not the US-American
scientists discovered the application of isotopes in medicine and water
isotope biology, but the Soviet scientists. Unlike in the United States, as
Timofeev-Resovskii pointed out, where the research results were published,
in the Soviet Union, the reports were sent to Sredmash, the “abyss,” where
they were forgotten. 57
A number of secret research facilities were built in the vicinity of the Soviet
nuclear complex to tackle the radiating consequences of the military-industrial
complex. This combined with the intellectual freedom granted under the
umbrella of the atomic project laid the foundation for various research in the
field of radiation knowledge and radiation protection knowledge production.
Scientists in these research facilities contributed to the emerging research
fields of radioecology and radiobiology. However, due to secrecy, most of
the research results had to be kept secret. Thus, personal experience became
crucial. Among others, physicians and scientists like Angelina K. Gus’kova,
Igor K. Dibobes, Yuri I. Moskalev and Pavel I. Moiseitsev made their careers
based on their practical experience as physicians and conducted research in
the Chelyabinsk region.
P.I. Moiseitsev was born in 1917 and became the head of the MSO-71 of
the Mayak radiochemical plant, which was established in 1947 and later reorganized into the FIB-1. In the early 1960s, he was the head of the department
of radiation safety of the USSR Ministry of Public Health. In performance of
his duties, he was one of the organizers of measures and legal procedures of
radiation protection in the Soviet Union. 58
Iuri I. Moskalev worked in the 1950s at the FIB-1 in Chelyabinsk-40
and was remembered in the above quotation by Goldman. After the 1957