Amazing, I would never have thought commercialization would reach these levels. Interesting to see what majority of American population thought of the nuclear bomb in general and what studies if any were done by the government in terms of the harmful effects of nuclear radiation.
The decade or so following WWII were a strange time in the US. The federal government made itself the only legal purchaser of uranium ore and artificially raised prices to incentivize mining, leading to a brief "Uranium Rush" [1]. Popular songs were sung about uranium prospectors [2]. There were even a couple of educational board games and toys -- with real uranium and other sources of ionizing radiation! -- made to teach kids about uranium and uranium mining [3].
The USGS would assay your samples. A relative who worked there once had the job of reporting to a prospector that while his sample was nicely radioactive, the radioactive chemicals did not occur in nature. I think the prospector may then have threatened to complain to his congressman.
The picaresque novel "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me" by Richard Farina (classmate of Tom Pynchon's) has an incredible scene where a traveling student drinks martinis in Vegas with rich oilmen as they watch the bombs go off before dawn. At first I thought this was pure fiction, but it's incredible to know that scene was based on a terrifying reality.
In Wright Morris's novel Ceremony at Lone Tree, a fellow driving from Baja California to Nebraska stops off at a motel where the clerk notes him down as "Wake before Bomb", i.e. to be awakened in time to see a test. In the event, the test is canceled.
6 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 29.6 ms ] thread[1]: http://national-radiation-instrument-catalog.com/new_page_14...
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ANI6oj8p2M
[3]: http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-terrifying-age-of-radioactive-toy...