Learn about the Atomic Age by visiting ORAU’s Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity.
Meet the museum curator: Dr. Paul Frame
Before stepping into the museum, it’s worth learning about the visionary behind this unique collection. Paul Frame, Ph.D., came to ORAU in 1981 as a certified health physicist and instructor for the Professional Training Programs (PTP). With a background as a professor, biologist and a visiting scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island, N.Y., Dr. Frame brought a wealth of knowledge and curiosity to ORAU.
Paul Frame, Ph.D., pictured with the ORAU Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity, 2020
Paul Frame pictured in 1991.
It all began with discovery. As a new employee, Dr. Frame explored his workplace and stumbled upon old X-ray tubes from the 1920s tucked away in cabinets. His passion for the people and stories behind the science led him to recognize the value of these artifacts. They weren’t just historical relics. He saw them as tools to inspire and educate. With permission to purchase display cabinets, he began curating what would eventually become ORAU’s Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity.
Paul Frame is pictured standing as he helps students during a PTP training course in the 1980s. Paul Frame pictured on far left; the caption on the back of the picture explains Frame was helping with a radiation survey cleanup crew, 1987. 
What started as a modest collection in the 1980s has grown to more than 1,000 artifacts, spanning a century of innovation and discovery—from the late 1890s to the 1990s. The museum highlights include an especially rich representation of items from the 1940s and 50s, which Dr. Frame considers the golden age of radiation detection and instrumentation.
Learn about the Atomic Age: What’s inside the museum?
More than a collection of artifacts, ORAU’s Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity is a journey through history of mankind’s understanding of these sciences. Officially recognized as the repository for historical radiological instruments and devices by the Health Physics Society, the museum has captured the interest of the local community and beyond.
Here are just a few of the exhibits you’ll encounter:
- A vintage shoe-fitting fluoroscope that speaks to the intersection of science and commerce.
- Turn-of-the-century “quack cures” marketed as remedies for ailments ranging from backaches to cancer.
- Items recovered from Hiroshima, Japan, following the atomic bomb that ended World War II.
- Civil defense products from the Cuban Missile crisis era.
Dr. Frame’s personal favorite? The earliest known direct reading pocket dosimeter, an important device in radiation detection.
The world’s earliest known direct reading pocket dosimeter is the ORAU’s museum curator’s favorite artifact.
Visitors no longer need security clearance to see collection
Until 2025, the physical museum was only accessible in a secure Department of Energy building for PTP class participants and not available to the public. As a consolation, the collection’s online presence was launched in 1999 and has been wildly popular, garnering hundreds of thousands of unique views.
ORAU’s Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity is now open to the public.
Now, the museum is open to the public, offering everyone the chance to explore this remarkable collection in person.
Plan your visit
Don’t forget you can dive even deeper into the history, stories and science behind radiation and radioactivity on the museum website orau.org/museum; and keep an eye on this museum webpage for updates about future events and opportunities to engage with the collection.
Keep an eye on the museum’s webpage for updates about future events and opportunities to engage with the collection.
To request a tour or to learn more, email communications@orau.org.