Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Robert “Bo” Jacobs

HistorianJapan

Expert
Bo Jacobs

Robert “Bo” Jacobs is an American historian of nuclear technologies and radiation technopolitics. He moved to Japan in 2006 after being hired by the Hiroshima Peace Institute.

Jacobs is currently a professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute and the Graduate School of Peace Studies of Hiroshima City University. His work is devoted to preserving memories of people affected by radiation and studying the colonialism of Cold War nuclear testing.  

Cognizant of perpetuating cycles of colonialist exploitation, Jacobs has sought to find ways to build networks within indigenous communities affected by radiation. Jacobs has organized training sessions to teach young adults from Japan, the Marshall Islands, and other radiation-affected places how to collect oral histories and preserve community memories.

You can listen to an interview with Jacobs here.

Related Profiles

Abe Krash

Chicago, IL

Abe Krash is an American attorney. He was the editor of The Chicago Maroon, the student newspaper, at the University of Chicago during the Manhattan Project.

Dr. Ruth Patrick

Dr. Ruth Patrick was an American botanist and limnologist who studied the effects of pollution in water ways.

J. Samuel Walker

Washington, DC

J. Samuel (“Sam”) Walker is the former historian of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the author of Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan.

Elspeth G. Bobbs

Santa Fe, NM

Elspeth G. Bobbs was born in 1920 in Devonshire County, England. During World War II she came to the United States with her parents.