Hey there, it's Ira Flato, and you're listening to Science Friday.

80 years ago, the U.S. bomb to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

So today on the show, an atomic bomb survivor and physician recounts his life's work

and understanding how radiation affects the body.

I have a fear I should be a leukemia patient.

So I finally decided to go to medical school and to learn why a leukeia was induced by radiation?

An estimated 210,000 people died instantly or within five months of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Another 210,000 survived and became known as Heibaksha in Japanese. For decades, Heabaksha have been

receiving medical care at specialized hospitals designed to care for atom bomb survivors. And to

this day, those hospitals are busy and filled with survivors who have suffered the medical

consequences of the bombings. Dr. Mosau Tomonaga was a doctor

at one of these hospitals. He was just two years old in Nagasaki when the U.S. bombed the city.

Years later, he became a physician and ultimately ran a Red Cross hospital in Nagasaki

that cared for Heibakshah, just like himself. Now, he directs a nursing home

for Heibaksha and still sees patients regularly. Dr. Tomonaga is my guest on Science Friday today.

Welcome to the show. Nice to meet you. Thank you. You were only two years old when the U.S. bombed Nagasaki.

What was your first memory of the aftermath?

I have no memory of atomic bombing in Nagasaki, especially what happened in our house.

Later, when I became age four or five, my mother explained what happened.

My mother was preparing lunch in the first floor

and I was sleeping

on the second floor

...