von Schwerin Alexander
Technische Universität Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig, Abteilung für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften/Pharmaziegeschichte, Braunschweig.
NTM. 2009;17(1):5-33. doi: 10.1007/s00048-008-0324-z.
Following the traces of radioactive material is--as scholars have recently shown--a valuable historical approach in order to evaluate the material 'factor' of science in action. Even though the origins of materials like radium and artificial isotopes are quite different, their circulation is interconnected. A material pathway can be drawn from the radium industry to the scientific rise of artificial isotopes as indicator substances in the 1930s, continuing to the building of networks by German scientists working for the war efforts. Also, this pathway reveals the role of radiation protection in establishing that material culture. Finally, the dynamics of material traces and institutional linkages is shown by the tracer work of biophysicists and radiation biologists working at the Genetic Department of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research in Berlin and at the Institut de Chimie Nucléaire at Paris, which at that time was occupied by German troops.
正如学者们最近所表明的那样，追踪放射性物质的踪迹是一种很有价值的历史方法，以便评估科学在实际运作中的物质“因素”。尽管镭和人工同位素等物质的起源大不相同，但它们的流通却是相互关联的。可以绘制一条物质路径，从镭工业到20世纪30年代人工同位素作为指示物质的科学兴起，再到为战争努力工作的德国科学家构建网络。此外，这条路径揭示了辐射防护在建立那种物质文化中的作用。最后，在柏林的凯撒·威廉脑研究所遗传学系以及当时被德国军队占领的巴黎核化学研究所工作的生物物理学家和辐射生物学家的示踪工作，展示了物质踪迹和机构联系的动态变化。
