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

Spencer Weart

France

Spencer Weart is a historian of science. Born in Larchmont, New York in 1942, Weart grew up in an age of excitement toward space and science fiction.

Richard H. Campbell

Washington, DC

Richard Harold Campbell was born in Fairmont, West Virginia on February 25, 1928. He married Beverly Ropp Campbell.

Ray Smith

Trinity Site

Ray Smith is the historian at the Y-12 National Security Complex. His specific focus is the history of Oak Ridge, and he is intimately acquainted with the uranium enrichment processes undertaken at the Y-12, K-25, and S-50 plants during the Manhattan Project, and how the Fat Man and Little Boy bombs worked.

Alvin Zelver

Japan

Al Zelver is an author and former Army intelligence officer who observed the wreckage of Hiroshima after the bombing and spent a year in Japan after the surrender.