Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biographical Data
Scope Note
Descriptive Summary
Title: Harvey Milton Patt Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1949-1982
Collection number: MSS 83-5
Creator: Patt, Harvey Milton, 1918-1982
Extent: 5 cartons
Repository:
University of California, San Francisco. Library. Archives and Special Collections.
San Francisco, California 94143-0840
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Harvey Milton Patt Papers, MSS 83-5, Archives & Special
Collections, UCSF Library & CKM
Biographical Data
Harvey Milton Patt was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 2, 1918. He majored in
physiology at the University of Chicago, receiving a B.S. in 1939 and a Ph.D. in 1942.
During World War II he worked as a civilian on a chemical toxicity program at the
University of Chicago, and as a naval officer [lieutenant (J.G.), USNR] on applied
physiology problems at the Medical Field Research Laboratory, Camp LeJeune, North
Carolina. He was on the staff of the Argonne National Laboratory from 1946 to 1964, where
his studies of radiation exposure led to the 1949 discovery that certain chemicals could
protect higher organisms from radiation effects. In 1964 he joined the faculty of the
University of California, San Francisco, as professor of radiology and physiology and
director of the Laboratory of Radiobiology and Environmental Health. That same year he
received the Ernest O. Lawrence Award of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission for his work
at Argonne.
In 1950 Dr. Patt served as executive secretary of the National Academy of Sciences
Symposium on Radiobiology at Oberlin, where he and a small group of researchers conceived
the idea of the Radiation Research Society; he served as its first treasurer, from
1952-1955, and as its president in 1960. Dr. Patt was secretary general of the first
International Congress of Radiation Research in 1958. From 1962 until 1970 he held the
post of scientific secretary to the Atomic Energy Commission's Advisory Committee for
Biology and Medicine. He also served on committees of the National Research Council and
National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Patt died on November 4, 1982.
Scope Note
Papers include business and personal correspondence, committee correspondence, meeting
minutes and reports, photographs and slides, and appointment books.
Folder listing available.