Between Profession and Politics 73
in order to avoid possible troubles for them, which led to the fact that I lost
many friends and acquaintances.” 34
Lysenkoism 35 and the repressions against doctors, 36 which were gaining
momentum in the years when the first nuclear reactor was being built and
launched, contributed to the injection of an alarming atmosphere. Academy
member V.V. Parin, member of the expert group, was also involved in the case
surrounding professors Roskin and Kliueva. The echo of the persecution also
reached the closed-door enterprise in the South Urals. In 1952, according to
the memoirs of Baisogolov, V.I. Masliuk, a student of the arrested academician V.N. Vinogradov and candidate of medical sciences G.I. Markman, was
“expelled” from the MSO No. 71. “Obviously, there were others,” added
Baisogolov, “but I don’t remember them.” 37 For the second time, he recalled
the threat of repressions in connection with one inspection visit to the plant
from Moscow.
In the modern historiography of the nuclear industry, it is recognized that
the construction and launching of the first industrial nuclear reactor was carried out under extremely tight deadlines, without proper approbation and in
extremely dangerous conditions for human life and health. The commissioning of the reactor was accompanied by accidents, the restoration of which
took place in conditions of increased radiation exposure. 38 This resulted in
the overexposure of reactor operating personnel, engineers and management
representatives. 39 As the head of the therapeutic department, Baisogolov, was
soon faced with a significant number of overexposed plant workers, three of
whom died of acute radiation sickness. Under the circumstances that there
was no clear understanding of the clinical situation of acute and chronic
radiation diseases, the scheme of their treatment was not known. The doctors of the Second Therapy were forced to act by trial and error based on
their feelings and intuition. Clinical symptoms of radiation lesions from high
doses of radiation were established by observation, and methods of disease
control were found experimentally. Already in the first years of work, there
were disagreements between experts of central institutions and doctors of the
plant. Thus, an inspection from the Moscow Institute of Biophysics, consisting of the director of the institute, A.S. Arkhipov, and the head of the
clinic, N.A. Kurshakov, came to clarify the circumstances of the deaths, and
thoroughly checked the history of diseases of patients. Baisogolov recalled
with displeasure that Arkhipov, a hygienist by profession, “tried to incriminate the lack of activity in the recovery of patients” at the time of clinical
death, with which he himself categorically disagreed. The intercession of the
second inspector, Kurshakov, did not find “any crime at all” in the actions
of doctors, as Baisogolov recalled with happiness and explained: “We must
remember that all this happened in early 1953, even before Stalin’s death,
when the leading doctors of the country were in prison and a campaign to
identify ‘enemies of the people’ among medical workers, including in our
closed city, was already underway.” 39
in order to avoid possible troubles for them, which led to the fact that I lost
many friends and acquaintances.” 34
Lysenkoism 35 and the repressions against doctors, 36 which were gaining
momentum in the years when the first nuclear reactor was being built and
launched, contributed to the injection of an alarming atmosphere. Academy
member V.V. Parin, member of the expert group, was also involved in the case
surrounding professors Roskin and Kliueva. The echo of the persecution also
reached the closed-door enterprise in the South Urals. In 1952, according to
the memoirs of Baisogolov, V.I. Masliuk, a student of the arrested academician V.N. Vinogradov and candidate of medical sciences G.I. Markman, was
“expelled” from the MSO No. 71. “Obviously, there were others,” added
Baisogolov, “but I don’t remember them.” 37 For the second time, he recalled
the threat of repressions in connection with one inspection visit to the plant
from Moscow.
In the modern historiography of the nuclear industry, it is recognized that
the construction and launching of the first industrial nuclear reactor was carried out under extremely tight deadlines, without proper approbation and in
extremely dangerous conditions for human life and health. The commissioning of the reactor was accompanied by accidents, the restoration of which
took place in conditions of increased radiation exposure. 38 This resulted in
the overexposure of reactor operating personnel, engineers and management
representatives. 39 As the head of the therapeutic department, Baisogolov, was
soon faced with a significant number of overexposed plant workers, three of
whom died of acute radiation sickness. Under the circumstances that there
was no clear understanding of the clinical situation of acute and chronic
radiation diseases, the scheme of their treatment was not known. The doctors of the Second Therapy were forced to act by trial and error based on
their feelings and intuition. Clinical symptoms of radiation lesions from high
doses of radiation were established by observation, and methods of disease
control were found experimentally. Already in the first years of work, there
were disagreements between experts of central institutions and doctors of the
plant. Thus, an inspection from the Moscow Institute of Biophysics, consisting of the director of the institute, A.S. Arkhipov, and the head of the
clinic, N.A. Kurshakov, came to clarify the circumstances of the deaths, and
thoroughly checked the history of diseases of patients. Baisogolov recalled
with displeasure that Arkhipov, a hygienist by profession, “tried to incriminate the lack of activity in the recovery of patients” at the time of clinical
death, with which he himself categorically disagreed. The intercession of the
second inspector, Kurshakov, did not find “any crime at all” in the actions
of doctors, as Baisogolov recalled with happiness and explained: “We must
remember that all this happened in early 1953, even before Stalin’s death,
when the leading doctors of the country were in prison and a campaign to
identify ‘enemies of the people’ among medical workers, including in our
closed city, was already underway.” 39