PBS American Experience The Living Weapon

Audio clips: Select Clip 2a Select Clip 2b Select Clip 2c

"We developed many new techniques to handle things much more safely."
(1:42)

QuickTime | RealMedia | Transcript

 

Download the free QuickTime plugin at www.apple.com or the free RealPlayer plugin at www.real.com.

Ira Baldwin in the lab in the 1920s.

Baldwin worked to develop safety procedures that are now standard: his laboratories were equipped with blowers to maintain negative air pressure, keeping all microorganisms within the lab and incinerators to sterilize the contaminated air before it was recirculated. But despite his efforts, at least four men are reported to have died during his experimentation, though all within the confines of the lab, and not in public.