Citizendia

John W. Gofman
BornSeptember 21, 1918
Cleveland, Ohio
DiedAugust 15, 2007
San Francisco, California
CitizenshipFlag of the United States United States
FieldsBiology, Chemistry
Alma materOberlin College (Bachelor's)
University of California at Berkeley (Ph. Events 1217 - The Estonian tribal leader Lembitu of Lehola was killed in a battle against Teutonic Knights. Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Cleveland is a City in the US state of Ohio and the County seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state Events 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Foundations of modern biology There are five unifying principles Chemistry (from Egyptian kēme (chem meaning "earth") is the Science concerned with the composition structure and properties Alma mater is Latin for "nourishing mother" It was used in Ancient Rome as a title for the mother Goddess, and in Medieval Oberlin College is a private Liberal arts college in Oberlin Ohio. The University of California Berkeley (also referred to as Cal, Berkeley and UC Berkeley) is a major research university located in Berkeley D)
University of California, San Francisco (M. The University of California San Francisco ( UCSF) is one of the world's leading centers of Health sciences research Patient care, and education D. )

John William Gofman M. D. , Ph. D. , (September 21, 1918 - August 15, 2007) was an American scientist and advocate. Events 1217 - The Estonian tribal leader Lembitu of Lehola was killed in a battle against Teutonic Knights. Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. He was Professor Emeritus of Molecular and Cell Biology at University of California at Berkeley. The University of California Berkeley (also referred to as Cal, Berkeley and UC Berkeley) is a major research university located in Berkeley Some of his early work was on the Manhattan Project, and he shares patents on the fissionability of uranium-233 as well as on early processes for separating plutonium from fission products. The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first Nuclear weapon (atomic bomb Uranium-233 is a Fissile artificial isotope of Uranium, which has been used in a few Nuclear reactors and has been proposed for much wider use as a Dr. Gofman later worked in medicine and led the team that discovered and characterized lipoproteins in the causation of heart disease. A lipoprotein is a biochemical assembly that contains both Proteins and Lipids The lipids or their derivatives may be covalently or non-covalently bound Heart disease is an Umbrella term for a variety for different diseases affecting the Heart. In 1963, he established the Biomedical Research Division for the Livermore National Laboratory, where he was on the cutting edge of research into the connection between chromosomal abnormalities and cancer. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ( LLNL) in Livermore California is a scientific research laboratory founded by the University of California in 1952 A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and Protein that is found in cells.

Later in life, he took on a role as an advocate warning of dangers involved with nuclear power. Nuclear power is any Nuclear technology designed to extract usable Energy from atomic nuclei via controlled Nuclear reactions From 1971 onward, he was the Chairman of the Committee for Nuclear Responsibility. He was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for his work on the effects of the Chernobyl disaster's low-level radiation exposure on the population. The Right Livelihood Award, established in 1980 by Jakob von Uexkull, is an award that is presented annually usually on December 9 to honour those "working on Chernobyl (as transliterated from the Чернобыль) or Chornobyl (as transliterated from Чорнобиль tʃɔrˈnɔbɪlʲ was a city in northern [1] John Gofman died of heart failure on August 15th, 2007 in his home in San Francisco.

Contents

Early work

John Gofman was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland is a City in the US state of Ohio and the County seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state He graduated from Oberlin College with a bachelor's in 1939, and received a doctorate in nuclear and physical chemistry from Berkeley in 1943. Oberlin College is a private Liberal arts college in Oberlin Ohio. The University of California Berkeley (also referred to as Cal, Berkeley and UC Berkeley) is a major research university located in Berkeley In his work as a graduate student, he studied nuclear isotopes and helped to describe several discoveries, including protactinium-232, uranium-232, protactinium-233, and uranium-233. Protactinium (ˌproʊtækˈtɪniəm is a Chemical element with the symbol Pa and Atomic number 91 Uranium 232 (92232 is an isotope of Uranium. It has a half life of 68 Uranium-233 is a Fissile artificial isotope of Uranium, which has been used in a few Nuclear reactors and has been proposed for much wider use as a He also helped to work out the fissionability of uranium-233. He later became the group co-leader of the Plutonium Project, an offshoot of the Manhattan Project. The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first Nuclear weapon (atomic bomb [2]

Dr. Gofman earned his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco, in 1946. The University of California San Francisco ( UCSF) is one of the world's leading centers of Health sciences research Patient care, and education After that, he and his collaborators investigated the body’s lipoproteins, which contain both proteins and fats, and their circulation within the bloodstream. A lipoprotein is a biochemical assembly that contains both Proteins and Lipids The lipids or their derivatives may be covalently or non-covalently bound Proteins are large Organic compounds made of Amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by Peptide bonds between the Carboxyl Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and largely insoluble in water The researchers described low-density and high-density lipoproteins and their roles in metabolic disorders and coronary disease. This work continued throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s. [2]

At Livermore

Dr. Gofman established the Biomedical Research Division for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1963. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ( LLNL) in Livermore California is a scientific research laboratory founded by the University of California in 1952 In 1964, he raised questions about a lack of data on low-level radiation and also proposed a wide-ranging study of exposure in medicine and the workplace at a symposium for nuclear scientists and engineers. This helped start a national inquiry into the safety of atomic power. With his colleague Dr. Arthur R. Tamplin, Dr. Gofman then looked at health studies of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as other epidemiological studies, and conducted research on radiation’s influences on human chromosomes. The two scientists suggested that federal safety guidelines for low-level exposures be reduced by 90 percent in 1969. The Atomic Energy Commission contested the findings, and "the furor made Dr. Gofman a reluctant figurehead of the antinuclear movement" according to The New York Times. [2] In 1970, he testified in favor of a bill to ban commercial nuclear reactors in New York City and told the City Council that a reactor in an urban environment would be "equal in the opposite direction to all the medical advances put together in the last 25 years. "[2]

Opposition to nuclear power

Gofman retired as a teaching professor in 1973 and became a professor emeritus of molecular and cell biology.

After the 19179 Three Mile Island accident, Dr. Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station is a civilian Nuclear power plant located on an island (Three Mile Island in the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg Gofman used his model of the effects of low-level radiation to predict 333 deaths from the accident; to date no deaths have been attributed to Three Mile Island. After the April 26th, 1986 Chernobyl disaster he predicted one million malignancies from the fallout, half of which would be fatal. Chernobyl (as transliterated from the Чернобыль) or Chornobyl (as transliterated from Чорнобиль tʃɔrˈnɔbɪlʲ was a city in northern To date the Chernobyl death toll stands at 56, of which nine were children who died of thyroid cancer (although many animals died from that cause). Four thousand other children were treated for thyroid cancer and recovered.

After a speech Dr. Gofman gave the summer of 1990 on nuclear waste at a national conference of activists, Charles Butler approached him for help. Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) Charles Butler was a retired physicist living in Needles, California and was looking for help to stop the proposed low-level nuclear waste facility at Ward Valley. Dr. Gofman referred him to the Abalone Alliance Clearinghouse in San Francisco. The Abalone Alliance (1977&ndash1985 was a Nonviolent Civil disobedience group formed to shut down the Pacific Gas and Electric Company 's Diablo With less than two weeks before the closure of the Environmental Impact Statement, the Alliance was able to mount a letter writing campaign that helped delay the EIS for an additional 90 days. This initial delay gave activists the time to form Don't Waste California and build a grassroots campaign that eventually stopped Ward Valley from opening.

Dr. Gofman also did work on the Diablo Canyon Power Plant. The Diablo Canyon Power Plant is an electricity-generating Nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo County, California.

Legacy

John Gofman was one of the first scientists who offered a clear path to documenting the long-term harm done by radiation using cancer epidemiology. His approach to taking current real-world data on what was happening in communities of radiation-exposed people and projecting likely cancers in the future was a major leap forward. It made it possible to understand that the likely consequences of low level radiation were much greater than previously described. He understood that cancer develops in different people at different ages, and so constructed tables to "predict" the long-term consequences of exposing large populations to radiation. His 1981 book Radiation and Human Health, described this and many other things that are still very relevant to our struggles for public health protection today.

For those people who also work on chemical hazards and protection of children's health, his 1981 book was one of the first that contained a concept we are finding to be extremely important in chemicals management for public health protection. His study of radiation-induced cancer showed that low dose exposures could do greater damage per unit of dose than high dose exposures (a supralinear dynamic). At a time when accepted truths were derived from high dose Hiroshima and Nagasaki effects, this was a leap forward in thinking about radiation and understanding the hazards of low doses of ionizing radiation. It has only been in the last 5 years that studies have been seen on this same dynamic for some chemical hazards - in lead and mercury induced cognitive damage in children and other areas. The implications for national public health policies are substantial - that for at least some chemicals, our water, food, air, and soil standards may not be sufficient, even when the standards are based on the best available science.

Bibliography

Awards

References

  1. ^ Mission Statement of the Committee for Nuclear Responsibility
  2. ^ a b c d Obituary: John W. Gofman, 88, Scientist and Advocate for Nuclear Safety Dies New York Times, August 26, 2007.

External links

Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar)
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