May 20, 2008

Check These Radioactive Historical Instrumentations

This site runs by the "Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) Health Physics Historical Instrumentation Museum Collection" which is a non profit organization. Also this site is part of a Federal computer system, and is monitored by the Department of Energy.

Which is why I'm not posting any images ;-( Tempting, but I am not taking the chance with a Federal site, even though this is not for a commercial purpose.

The collection which belongs to the ORAU is at the Professional Training Programs (PTP) training facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. They have radiological sciences and radiation instrumentation publications. So, if you want to seem them in person, you can contact them.

So, about the collection. It has all kinds of radiation items which include toys, which is one of the main reasons why I am publishing this link. ;-) Of course, they do have other cool items too. Not everything is fun here. There are various technical instruments are well, such as x-ray and gas discharge tubes, Spinthariscopes, Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscope, Radiation Warning Signs. The museum directory is too long for me to jot it all down. There are 36 categories! I don't even know like half of the terms in that directory. I've never heard of the word Spinthariscopes for example.

Bottom line the collection is both fun and serious.

I think one of the items that truly amused me was the 1970 smoke detector picture. It is too complicated for me to explain why they aren't safe. Way too technical for me. :-) You can find it under the Radioactive Consumer Products category. Click the detector alarm image to get a larger image with an explanation.

Historical Instrumentation Collection
http://www.orau.org/ptp/museumdirectory.htm


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