Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Masao Tomonaga

Professor, Honorary Director of the Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki Atomic Bomb HospitalJapan

ExpertHibakusha

Dr. Masao Tomonaga is the honorary director of the Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hospital and a hibakusha, an atomic bomb survivor. He studied internal medicine and hematology at the Nagasaki University Medical School. Throughout his career he has explained and studied the medical consequences of the atomic bombs, including radiation exposure, cancers, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Currently, he runs a retirement home for older hibakusha. He is also the Chairman of the Nagasaki Global Citizen’s Assembly for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. He advocates that nuclear weapons “should not be produced any more, should never be used again and ultimately abandoned forever.”

To view a 2019 interview with Tomonaga, conducted by the Atomic Heritage Foundation, please click here.

For more on Masao Tomonaga please click here

Masao Tomonaga’s Timeline
1943 Born in Nagasaki, Japan.

1945 Aug 9th Survived the Nagasaki atomic bombing.

2009 Retired from the Atomic Bomb Disease Institute of Nagasaki University.

Related Profiles

Stafford L. Warren

Oak Ridge, TN

Stafford Leak “Staff” Warren was a Colonel in the Army Medical Corps and the Chief Medical Officer of the Manhattan Engineer District (MED).

Bunsaku Arakatsu

Japan

Bunsaku Arakatsu (1890-1973) was a physicist and leader of the Japanese atomic bomb program. Arakatsu was born in Japan in 1890.

Bob Cook

Hanford, WA

Bob Cook is a nuclear engineer and consultant. He began his career by earning a B.A. in Physics from Washington University.

Clifton Truman Daniel

Clifton Truman Daniel is the son of Margaret Truman Daniel and the grandson of President Harry Truman.