Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany.
NTM. 2022 Jun;30(2):167-195. doi: 10.1007/s00048-022-00336-9. Epub 2022 May 10.
This paper draws attention to the role of the IAEA in shaping radiation dosimetry practices, instrumentation, and standards in the late 1950s and 1960s. It traces the beginnings of the IAEA's radiation dose intercomparison program which targeted all member states and involved the WHO so as to standardize dosimetry on a global level. To standardize dosimetric measurement methods, techniques, and instruments, however, one had to devise a method of comparing absorbed dose measurements in one laboratory with those performed in others with a high degree of accuracy. In 1964 the IAEA thus started to build up what I call the "global experiment," an intercomparison of radiation doses with participating laboratories from many of its member states. To carry out the process of worldwide standardization in radiation dosimetry, I argue, an organization with the diplomatic power and global reach of the IAEA was absolutely necessary. Thus, "global experiment" indicates a novel understanding of the experimental process. What counts as an experiment became governed by a process that was designed and strictly regulated by an international organization; it took place simultaneously in several laboratories across the globe, while experimental data became centrally owned and alienated from those that produced it.
本文提请关注国际原子能机构（IAEA）在塑造辐射剂量学实践、仪器和标准方面的作用，这一时期为 20 世纪 50 年代末和 60 年代。本文追溯了 IAEA 辐射剂量比对计划的开端，该计划针对所有成员国，并涉及世界卫生组织（WHO），以实现全球层面的剂量标准化。然而，为了使剂量测量方法、技术和仪器标准化，人们必须设计一种方法，以便能够以高精度比较一个实验室中的吸收剂量测量值与其他实验室中的测量值。因此，1964 年，IAEA 开始建立我所称的“全球实验”，即与来自其许多成员国的参与实验室进行辐射剂量比对。我认为，为了在辐射剂量学领域实现全球标准化进程，IAEA 这样具有外交权力和全球影响力的组织是绝对必要的。因此，“全球实验”表明了对实验过程的一种新理解。什么可以被视为实验，由一个国际组织设计和严格监管的过程所决定；它在全球的多个实验室同时进行，而实验数据则被集中拥有，并与产生数据的实验室分离。
