Soraya Boudia

Introduction: Risk and ‘Risk Society’ in Historical Perspective

Since the mid-1980s “risk” has constituted a sort of banner to which the social sciences have rallied. It has given rise to a whole range of research in the political science, sociology and economics spheres. This paper is a general introduction to a History and Technology special issue which attempt to construct analytical frameworks and research proposals that may contribute to a historization and a denaturalization of risk. This paper considers the role of history in analyzing risks in the fields of science and technology. It aims to show the importance of history in considering risk and the societal mutations to which it gives rise or in which it plays a central role. Ultimately, our aim is to stress the necessity not only to compile a history of “risk”, but also to account for the emergence, development and uses of risk and “risk society”.

The Curie laboratory : Radioactivity and metrology

Abstract The Curie laboratory played an important role in the standardization of radioelements, and the establishment of a first metrology of radioactivity. This laboratory contributed to the birth and the organization of the radioelements industry, and supplied procedures and instruments, as well as educated technicians, to it. In the second decade of the 20th century the convergence of the needs of several groups having different motivations and logics, in particular the radioactivity community, the radium therapists, and the radium industry, led to the formation of the International Commission for the Radium Standard. It adopted Marie Curies standard as well as her measurement unit, the curie. The Commission also established a certification network in which the measurement service set up at the Curie laboratory had a central role. Even if the adoption of this metrology helped homogenize a discipline, that of the study of radioactivity, the specificities of each laboratory persisted.

Global Regulation: Controlling and Accepting Radioactivity Risks

This paper examines the determining role of nuclear hazards in the emergence of a new category of risks—‘global risks’. It retraces how an international structure for expertise and regulation of these risks was constructed as a result of American foreign policy, international relations in the context of the Cold War, public mobilization against nuclear weapons, criticism and demands for ‘social measures’ as well as scientific research interests and professional legitimatization. By focusing on the role of scientists in this process, this paper aims to discuss the political and social role of these regulatory activities.

Radioisotopes "economy of promises": On the limits of biomedicine in public legitimization of nuclear activities

This paper aims to examine the rise and the fall of biomedicine in the public legitimization of the development of nuclear energy. Until the late 1950s, biological and medical applications of radioisotopes were presented as the most important successes of the peaceful uses of atomic energy. I will argue that despite the major financial investment, the development of the uses of radioisotopes and their important impact on biology and clinical practices, the assessment of medical uses remained relatively limited. As consequence, the place of biomedicine in the public legitimization of financial investment and civilian uses of nuclear energy began to decline from the late 1950s.