1949
The Medical Division and the University Relations Division were formally organized and staffed in 1949.
In January 1949, the Medical Division accepted the first foreign students for radioisotope training. The first attendees were Dr. P. S. Krishnan, India, and Dr. K. Aterman, England.
The Educational Services Division was set up, initially, to open a museum that would function as a public education program. The American Museum of Atomic Energy was opened on March 19, 1949, under the operating responsibility of ORINS. In less than four months, more than 15,000 visitors from across the United States and from 25 foreign countries visited the new museum.
Photo, right: Mechanical hands light Marie "The Body" Macdonald's cigarette at the American Museum of Atomic Energy opening in March 1949. ORINS operated the museum as part of a public education program on atomic energy.
Construction of the ORINS Cancer Research Hospital began on June 25, 1949. The 30-bed hospital and laboratory were completed in 1950, and the first patient was accepted for treatment on May 15. The first patients accepted by the division were those afflicted with diseases for which there was already an established backlog of experience in the therapeutic use of radioisotopes. The major energies of the staff were devoted to investigating new types of isotope treatment.
In April 1949, the Oak Ridge Traveling Lecture Program was begun to make the lecture services of Oak Ridge scientists available on university campuses.