{"id":1500,"date":"2010-10-02T09:30:48","date_gmt":"2010-10-02T15:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/?p=1500"},"modified":"2010-10-02T09:31:48","modified_gmt":"2010-10-02T15:31:48","slug":"geiger-counter-articles-from-the-uranium-rush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/?p=1500","title":{"rendered":"Geiger Counter Articles from the Uranium Rush"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I ran across a couple of Geiger counter circuits while preparing the Carl & Jerry books<\/a> a few years back, but it wasn’t until I went looking in Google Books for other articles that I got a sense for the time period 1950-1960, when there was a certain Uranium madness in the air. At first it was about prospecting, but later on as the 50s drew to a close, it was mostly about fallout.<\/p>\n

There were articles not only on building Geiger counters, but also reviews of commercial units and practical tips on how to search for the minerals. Sometimes it was a cover story (as with Popular Electronics<\/em> for July 1955<\/a>; scroll down) but mostly it was just a part of the electronics hobbyist zeitgeist in that era. There was a certain grim exuberance about it all: The evil Soviet Union was breathing gamma rays in the faces of our collective cultural consciousness, and we were ready to respond with our archetypal American can-do spirit. Some of us understood that the unspoken clause after “duck and cover” was “and die.” Most, I think, did not. (Especially naturally optimistic 11-year-olds like me who just wanted to build a cool gadget with a Geiger tube he already had.)<\/p>\n

So below is a list of the construction articles I’ve discovered for Geiger counters in the 1950-1960 era. Many are on Google Books, and I’ve posted the circuits from a couple of the others. If you have any more not listed here, please pass along links or scans so I can add them. I’m considering a standalone Web article for my Junkbox site<\/a> on building “legacy” Geiger counters based on my current experience, so whatever you have that might be relevant, please share.<\/p>\n