Atomic Garden Resources: The Journal of Radiation Botany (1961-1975)

The atomic gardens of the 1950s and 1960s, whose legacy though forgotten remains accessible in the scientific literature of the time, provide a unique opportunity to examine the effects of primitive genomic experiments and thereby inform current GM debates.

The Journal of Radiation Botany was the official publication for scientific results from the midcentury plant experiments, edited by one Arnold Sparrow, radiobiologist. (5)   The plant varieties it records as experimental subjects have largely been forgotten, and have not been tracked.  Arnold’s own archives (held at the University of Tennessee) are also relatively unsearched.

If you’d like to participate in an effort to track the irradiated plants, please get in touch via the contact form!  If you are outside the United States, or speak a foreign language, you can be particularly useful in the effort to track international gamma gardens.