In Atomic Doctors, James L. Nolan, Jr. looks at the moral dilemmas faced by his grandfather, a medical doctor in the Manhattan Project. Dr. Nolan cared for scientists on the project, organized safety and evacuation plans for the Trinity test at Alamogordo, escorted the “Little Boy” bomb from Los Alamos to the Pacific Islands, and was one of the first Americans to enter the irradiated ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Participation on the Manhattan Project challenged the instincts of Dr. Nolan and the other doctors involved in the project as they found themselves torn between their duty and desire to win the war and their oaths to protect life and called upon to guard against the harmful effects of radiation while also downplaying its hazards. Atomic Doctors tells the story of medical professionals struggling with the ethics of ending the deadliest of all wars using the most lethal of all weapons.

James L. Nolan, Jr. is Washington Gladden 1859 Professor of Sociology at Williams College.

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