Part 1 covers a few of the people associated with Washington University who played a part in the building of the atomic bomb with reference to the 2023 film Oppenheimer. Part 2 focuses on the part Arthur Holly Compton played in Robert J. Oppenheimer’s life and as inspiration for the movie. There are spoilers for [Read more]
Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award winning 2023 film Oppenheimer is based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s 2005 biography of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. The movie cleverly compresses several decades of Oppenheimer’s life around his leadership in building the first atomic bomb and his subsequent political blacklisting during the McCarthy era. Although none are [Read more]
What makes a good memory? How about a good meal? For members of the Washington University medical center who served with Base Hospital 21 during the First World War, special dinners were an important part of maintaining morale for the unit’s doctors, nurses, and enlisted men who were often overwhelmed with the wounded soldiers streaming [Read more]
Richard Hudlin trained tennis stars and desegregated St. Louis courts.
Becker Medical Library’s visual collection archivist, Philip Skroska, leads a walking tour through time in this brief history of Queeny Tower, a long-time landmark at the Washington University Medical Center, currently being demolished.
The end of World War II brought elation for some. The staff and patients of the 21st General Hospital, the US Army reserve hospital staffed by members of the Washington University medical community, were almost certainly among those in celebration. The personnel of the 21st had served continuously since 1942 and shared an immense relief [Read more]
One beloved holiday tradition is sending cards to family and friends – connecting with loved ones when often the weather and a busy season make it difficult to meet personally. The Office of the Dean routinely sent out holiday cards on behalf of Washington University School of Medicine. The following are a few examples from [Read more]
Back in the days before the Internet, how did authors obtain copies of journal articles if they did not hold a subscription to the journal? One common way to request a copy of an article was to send the corresponding author of the article a postcard or a letter requesting a reprint of the article. [Read more]
A new exhibit titled “That Was Then: An Architectural History of the Washington University Medical Center” is on display through Aug. 16 on the seventh floor of Bernard Becker Medical Library. Through a series of before-and-after photographs, the exhibit shows how the medical campus has changed over the past 100 years. One building in particular [Read more]
Margaret Gladys Smith, MD, was the first woman to head a department at Washington University School of Medicine, serving as the de facto chair of the Department of Pathology after the sudden death of Howard A. McCordock, MD, in November 1938. Until the appointment of a new chair in July 1939, Smith led the department [Read more]