Did we know about radiation poisoning when we dropped atomic bombs on Japan?

Question

I cant seem to find anything that says we did or didn't. I know we tested some bombs, but did we know the effects it would have in the long run on humans and the surrounding areas?

Answer 1

Yes. It was well known by that time that uranium was a dangerous substance and needed specialist equipment to handle it.

Answer 2

I think that if our government knew anything, it was a theory because no bomb had ever been dropped.  I think scientists had an idea something would happen without knowing exactly what.  I also think that if there was any evidence to suggest the devastation those people suffered, our government will never admit to having it.  

Answer 3

Yes. And if they didn't have information from direct testing, they had the ability to put two and two together. They may not have known how long-lasting it could have been (I mean that it stayed in the environment for so long) but they might have, and they definitely knew that it was hurtful.

"Since the turn-of-the-century discovery of radioactivity, these aftereffects have been a subject of popular fascination and biomedical research. Early on radioactivity was seen as an elixir and cure for cancer and other human ills. By the onset of World War II, an epidemic of disease among radium dial painters and the deaths of early radiation workers and a socialite who imbibed the elixir radiothor led to awareness that radioactivity could be lethal. Manhattan Project biomedical researchers were therefore keenly aware of the potential harm that might be done by the daily exposure of thousands of workers to radioactivity. Research and data-gathering became a priority, great numbers of animal experiments were undertaken, and blood and fecal sampling was conducted to assess radiation in the human body."

Answer 4

We really didn't understand anything about them.  Some of the scientists involved thought the explosion of a bomb would ignite the entire world's atmosphere.  We continued testing bombs in the close presence of US military forces for a number of years after, in fact.

Answer 5

They had done some testing of the atomic bombs, but they were in the middle of the desert without many people around and they were smaller and not dropped from a plane. I don't think they realized just how much long range damage and on what scale it would happen.

Answer 6

  We knew that exposure to high concentrations of radiation could kill. A number of scientists before and during the Manhatten project died of radiation caused illnesses. Other than some preliminary data from the test explosion, no one knew what effects radiation would have, even in the short term. Throughout the 1950s the government continued to conduct in air testing, to monitor what would happen. HIroshima and Nagasaki continued to provide data about exposure. Chernoble has since provided yet more information on how and what radiation does to both humans and the envirement in the long term.