Radium, Biophysics, and Radiobiology: Tracing the History of Radiobiology in Twentieth-Century China

Abstract

This article explores the history of radiobiology in twentieth-century China by examining the intertwining of radium, biophysics, and radiobiology from roughly the 1920s in the Nationalist period to the 1960s in the Communist period. From the foreign purchase of radium made by the China Medical Board of the Rockefeller Foundation during Republican China to the institutional founding of radiobiology as a subset of biophysics in the People’s Republic, the overall purpose is to outline the historical contour of radiobiology, the study of assessing biological hazards of exposure to radioactive substance and nuclear radiation, in twentieth-century China. Western historiography of radiobiology highlight the connection between military development of nuclear weapons and civilian use of radiation biology, as well as the international export of radioisotopes and nuclear reactors. Considering the exclusion of China from the Western atomic diplomacy, I argue that the current study of the Chinese history of bomb-making and radiobiology is necessary not just to fill an existing knowledge gap, but more importantly to elucidate the influence of Chinese nuclear weapons program and Cold War atomic politics on Chinese life science enterprise. Through examining the formational history of radiobiology program in China, I hope to shed light on the implication of the atomic age for Chinese biology in the twentieth century.