My topic is Alexander Gettler’s exploration, encounter, and exchange in forensic science. I chose this topic because I am intrigued by the medical world and I happened to fall upon Gettler’s story while researching important medical figures in U.S. History. At first, I was going to choose the work of Gettler’s boss, Dr. Charles Norris for my topic, but soon discovered that the important forensic work was actually done by Alexander Gettler himself. Because this field of science involves solving gripping murder investigations, I knew that this was a great topic for my NHD project. I began my research by using the internet. Finding many helpful websites, I expanded my research by going to the Herrick District Library and the Hope College Van Wylen Library in my home town of Holland, Michigan. My most revealing research was the interview I arranged by phone with Dr. Michael Baden, a pathologist who worked with Alexander Gettler as a medical student. Dr. Baden revealed many interesting things about the era in which Gettler lived, his personality, and the importance of his work. The “Radium Girls” case was a heart-rending, attention grabbing story that Dr. Baden had witnessed himself. The glowing sheet of radioactive film during the Radium Girls case was an astounding detail that Dr. Baden had seen. Though the bones of the dead women that …show more content…
they examined were years old, the radioactive material seeped into the film paper and made very clear, glowing, outlines of her disintegrating bones. After intensive research, I gathered all my information and made sure to cite everything.
I then created a general overview of the script before writing the actual script. Going over my script with a fine tooth comb, I began to practice my presentation and gather my costume--making sure my presentation was under 10 minutes. Shopping around at Goodwill, Ditto’s, and many other used clothes stores, I used my previously found research and other websites on men’s clothing in the early 1900’s to gather my costume. Creating a small open space, I practiced as if I were on stage and made sure to maintain “eye contact” as I moved around my
set. My project relates to the theme of Exploration, Encounter, and Exchange. Its relation to the theme is that Dr. Alexander Gettler was exploring a new area of science that people in the U.S. had not used before. Discovering new poisons, toxic substances, and their properties, Gettler carved a path for future toxicologists and pathologists. Because this was a unknown area of science, he encountered many problems and opposition from others along the way. Gettler had to work with others and exchange ideas to be able to continue with his research. Without Dr. Alexander Gettler’s Exploration, Encounter, and Exchange in forensic science, the world would be a more toxic place.
In chapter 8 titled "Radium (Ra)" of The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum, the most interesting story developed within this chapter was the death of dial workers at Orange, New Jersey after been exposed to radium every day. It was interesting due to the fact that radium was used everywhere in the community and was never thought it could harm anyone. Radium was a super element that was used everywhere, but its continuous use unmasked its fatal habits. As it was stated in the text, "Radiant health, the ads proclaimed-beautiful skin, endless vigor, and eternal health—ingesting radium seemed the next best thing to drinking sunlight." (Blum 179). People were accepting radium as a natural gold element but they haven't realized constant contact
Imagine working with radioactive materials in a secret camp, and the government not telling you that this material is harmful to your body. In the book Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters by Kate Brown, she takes her readers on a journey to expose what happened in the first two cities that started producing plutonium. Brown is an Associate Professor of History at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She has won a handful of prizes, such as the American Historical Association’s George Louis Beer Prize for the Best Book in International European History, and was also a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow. Brown wrote this book by looking through hundreds of archives and interviews with people,
Granted that Catherine “won her case six times, for the Radium Dial Company appealed six times. After losing all six, the company appealed one last to the United States Supreme Courrt and finally the Illinois Industrial Commission awarded Catherine five thousand, six hundred, and sixty-one dollars” (Scene 20, p. 65). This case probably shed a new light to the countless of workers who probably had been affected by the radium. Moreover, assuming that the company eventually went bankrupt, it is not a stretch to say that injustice transformed to justice. Even if only by some measurable degree; by some tick of
"Medical Experiments ." 10 June 2013. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum . 18 March 2014 .
In 1917 a young female right out of high school started working at a radium factory in Orange, New Jersey. The job was mixing water, glue and radium powder for the task of painting watch dials, aircraft switches, and instrument dials. The paint is newly inventive and cool so without hesitation she paints her nails and lips with her friends all the while not knowing that this paint that is making them radiant, is slowly killing them. This was the life of Grace Fryer. Today there are trepidations on the topic of radiation from fears of nuclear fallout, meltdowns, or acts of terrorism. This uneasiness is a result of events over the past one hundred years showing the dangers of radiation. Although most accidents today leading to death from radiation poisoning occur from human error or faults in equipment, the incident involving the now named "radium girls" transpired from lack of public awareness and safety laws. (introduce topics of the paper)
During World War II, Nazi doctors committed atrocious crimes in the name of research against their Jewish prisoners. This research done in such a way that never can or should be done again, plays an important role in science. We must allow researchers to use Nazi data to add light to their research, however only if it is the only source for the data they need to improve their research or findings.
Even though most of these experiments did not end great, they did have some benefits. One of the mostl known Nazi doctors was Jo...
Forensics has changed the way our criminal system works now. A lot of cases are being solved because of the development of forensics. Even cold cases are being brought up to the light to be investigated again and a good percentage of the cases are being solved and criminals are being brought to justice. The green river killer is one case that really got me intrigued into forensics and I got mesmerized by the techniques that are being used to catch murderers and other crimes being committed. The green river killer had an interesting childhood that led him to be a serial killer. He committed multiple murders on prostitutes and left there families with agony and pain. But advances in DNA ultimately led to his demise, police officers were able to capture and arrest him and bring justice to a lot of family’s mourning for their sisters, mothers, and daughters. His story is intriguing and is one that I would like to tell.
The dropping and the atomic bomb and the continued use of human subjects during scientific testing in the 20th century continues to be a controversial subject. It is because the actions carried out saved many lives and that those hurt were informed and volunteered that these methods were moral. It is because of the debate surrounding these actions that science has continued to evolve. From these earlier practices, more rigid experimental methods are enforced. These new regulations protect the patient and continue to ensure that those sacrificing their safety to aid others are not injured without fully understanding the risks involved. The modern world will continue to benefit from the actions taken by the United States during the 20th century.
Uranium, a radioactive element, was first mined in the western United States in 1871 by Dr. Richard Pierce, who shipped 200 pounds of pitchblende to London from the Central City Mining District. This element is sorta boring but I found something interesting, they used it to make an an atomic bomb in the Cold War. In 1898 Pierre and Marie Curie and G. Bemont isolated the "miracle element" radium from pitchblende. That same year, uranium, vanadium and radium were found to exist in carnotite, a mineral containing colorful red and yellow ores that had been used as body paint by early Navajo and Ute Indians on the Colorado Plateau. The discovery triggered a small prospecting boom in southeastern Utah, and radium mines in Grand and San Juan counties became a major source of ore for the Curies. It was not the Curies but a British team working in Canada which was the first to understand that the presence of polonium and radium in pitchblende was not due to simple geological and mineral reasons, but that these elements were directly linked to uranium by a process of natural radioactive transmutation. The theory of radioactive transformation of elements was brilliantly enlarge in1901 by the New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford and the English chemist Frederick Soddy at McGill University in Montreal. At dusk on the evening of November 8, 1895, Wilhelm Rontgen, professor of physics at the University of Wurzburg in Germany, noticed a cathode tube that a sheet of paper come distance away. He put his hand between the tube and the paper, he saw the image of the bones in his hand on the paper.
Everyday in every part of the world, Criminal activities is increasing in its new face. Though a criminal always suppose of making a perfect crime, such that no one can realize, a hint or way is left behind & with the use of modern techniques an investigator(s) finds out the rest. So, in today’s world the improvement & achievement of justice via application of forensic Science with the processes of law is a must thing to have. To know the baseline of an investigation procedure, CSI-"Coming to Rage" was my episode of concern for the FSCI 101 assignment.
AV. Pathways to human experimentation, 1933-1945: Germany, Japan, and the United States. In: Sachse C, Walker M, eds. Osiris, 2nd Series, Volume 20, Politics and Science in Wartime: Comparative International Perspectives on the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; 2005:205-231.
The First 48 Hours video that I have chosen is “In Cold Blood” and “Red Handed.” Because I have chosen this video I decided to do my topic on homicide, firearms, and robbery. I will discuss each one of these. I then will tell how it played a role in the video. I then will explain how it all comes together to help solve the crime. So let’s get started.
The biological effects of radiation play a key role in today’s society and it is something that all species have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Throughout time, this field of study has grown and has become one of the most prominent fields of science. Radiation is something that we as a human race will never be able to escape. It is naturally present and has been since planet Earth was formed. In the mid 19th Century, there were two famous scientists that are known for their exquisite contributions to the study of radioactivity. Pierre and Marie Curie were a husband-wife duo that both studied at the Sorbonne. While at Sorbonne, they studied the properties of thorium and uranium and soon stumbled upon and discovered the element polonium. Pierre then decided to study magnetism at high temperatures. Marie proceeded to study in both chemistry and physics and received Nobel Awards in both fields. She is the only person in history to do this. The “curie” is a unit of measure that scientists use to this day in radiation studies. These two were not...
The topic I find such fascinating is Forensic Science and how forensic science has significantly changed over the years. “The area of forensic science has grown considerably over the last 150 years and more so since the mid 1980’s.” (Lyman, 2016) Forensic science has gone from taking basic information, and fingerprints to DNA and blood splatter. During a crime scene investigation evidence is collected, analyzed in a crime laboratory and then if needed are presented to the court. However, today the crime laboratory is becoming mobile and can go to the scene to analyze the evidence. Each crime scene and investigation is unique and distinctive, with the help of forensics it can help solve a case.