68 Olga Nikonova
glorification of events, and a one-sided positive image of the protagonists.
As all texts involved in the analysis are a retrospective view of the events, it
is necessary to take into account the distortion of the perception of events
associated with the “functioning” of memory and the effects of nostalgia for
the Soviet Union.
Toward a Sociocultural Approach to Radiation Medicine
The history of the medical service for the workers at the main complex
of the nuclear industry in the Urals, as well as the development of radiation safety standards in the plutonium Plant No. 817, and the eradication of the consequences of accidents from the 1940s to the 1960s is a
historiographical “patchwork blanket,” collected from the research on
the history of the nuclear industry in the USSR 2 and the history of the
plutonium Plant No. 817, 3 radiation medicine and radiological facilities
in the Chelyabinsk region. 4 The authors of the texts are not only professional historians, but also physicians, journalists, eyewitnesses to events,
and accident clean-up workers (liquidators), who tried themselves in the
genres of historical journalism and popular history. The research works
concerning medical subjects, as a rule, are written in line with the classical history of medicine and the Soviet-Russian history of the atomic
project: they are notable for their descriptive nature and desire to glorify
the atomic project and nuclear scientists. The source base of the research
is furthermore very limited due to the secrecy surrounding the corpus of
documentary materials.
This chapter suggests a new perspective on the sources that have already
been put into circulation – to analyze them from the point of view of the
sociocultural history of medicine. At the same time, the emphasis shifts from
studying the process of accumulation and progress of medical knowledge
(mainly through the prism of medical discoveries and biographies of great
scientists) to the exploration of medical practices in their political, social, and
cultural context, the interactions within expert communities, the relationship between the doctor and the patient, the disease as a social and cultural
phenomenon, etc. For Russian historiography, this is still a relatively new
trend, and there is no such account of the history of Soviet radiation medicine
that presents a sociocultural approach to this field. The main reason for this
is the limited access to sources, as well as the fact that the majority of the
media and scientists working in this field, have been and still are, bound by
nondisclosure agreements.
In order to “place” the analyzed medical radiologists in the context of the
epoch and its inherent power relations, this chapter will analyze the specific
characteristics of the institutionalization of the community of experts, their
professional communication and ethos, questions about the possibilities of selffulfillment in Soviet science of the period of the 1940s and 1950s, and the
specifics of scientific careers in the “secret” branches.
glorification of events, and a one-sided positive image of the protagonists.
As all texts involved in the analysis are a retrospective view of the events, it
is necessary to take into account the distortion of the perception of events
associated with the “functioning” of memory and the effects of nostalgia for
the Soviet Union.
Toward a Sociocultural Approach to Radiation Medicine
The history of the medical service for the workers at the main complex
of the nuclear industry in the Urals, as well as the development of radiation safety standards in the plutonium Plant No. 817, and the eradication of the consequences of accidents from the 1940s to the 1960s is a
historiographical “patchwork blanket,” collected from the research on
the history of the nuclear industry in the USSR 2 and the history of the
plutonium Plant No. 817, 3 radiation medicine and radiological facilities
in the Chelyabinsk region. 4 The authors of the texts are not only professional historians, but also physicians, journalists, eyewitnesses to events,
and accident clean-up workers (liquidators), who tried themselves in the
genres of historical journalism and popular history. The research works
concerning medical subjects, as a rule, are written in line with the classical history of medicine and the Soviet-Russian history of the atomic
project: they are notable for their descriptive nature and desire to glorify
the atomic project and nuclear scientists. The source base of the research
is furthermore very limited due to the secrecy surrounding the corpus of
documentary materials.
This chapter suggests a new perspective on the sources that have already
been put into circulation – to analyze them from the point of view of the
sociocultural history of medicine. At the same time, the emphasis shifts from
studying the process of accumulation and progress of medical knowledge
(mainly through the prism of medical discoveries and biographies of great
scientists) to the exploration of medical practices in their political, social, and
cultural context, the interactions within expert communities, the relationship between the doctor and the patient, the disease as a social and cultural
phenomenon, etc. For Russian historiography, this is still a relatively new
trend, and there is no such account of the history of Soviet radiation medicine
that presents a sociocultural approach to this field. The main reason for this
is the limited access to sources, as well as the fact that the majority of the
media and scientists working in this field, have been and still are, bound by
nondisclosure agreements.
In order to “place” the analyzed medical radiologists in the context of the
epoch and its inherent power relations, this chapter will analyze the specific
characteristics of the institutionalization of the community of experts, their
professional communication and ethos, questions about the possibilities of selffulfillment in Soviet science of the period of the 1940s and 1950s, and the
specifics of scientific careers in the “secret” branches.