Helen Mary Caldicott is an Australian physician and author of books on nuclear defense. She has founded several associations dedicated to countering the use of nuclear energy, the use of depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons and the proliferation of nuclear weapons and war in general.
She became a heroine for many documentaries, several films were devoted to the activities of Helen Caldicott.
Biography
Helen was born on August 7, 1938 in Melbourne, Australia. Father is a factory director, mother is an interior designer.
She attended Fintona Girls' School and Balwyn Private High School. At the age of 17, she entered the University of Adelaide School of Medicine. In 1961 she was educated and became a doctor of medicine.
In 1962 she married William Caldicott, a pediatric radiologist who was involved in all of her campaigns. Her family has three children: Philip, Penny and William Jr.
In 1966, Helen Caldicott moves to Boston, Massachusetts, where Helen enters a three-year nutritional internship at Harvard Medical School.
In 1969, she returned to Adelaide and took over the renal department at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
In the early 1970s, he completed a one-year residency and a two-year internship in pediatrics at Adelaide Children's Hospital and qualified as a pediatrician.
All of this allows Helen to open Australia's first cystic fibrosis (cystic fibrosis) clinic at Adelaide Children's Hospital. The clinic currently has the best survival rates across Australia.
In 1977, Caldicott became a professor of pediatrics at the Boston Medical Center. She also taught pediatrics at Harvard Medical School from 1977 to 1980.
Anti-nuclear activism
Helen's interest in the dangers of nuclear power arose in 1957 after reading a book about the nuclear disaster in Australia. By the early 1970s, Caldicott was already a popular anti-nuclear activist in Australia, New Zealand and North America.
Helen's first achievement was to convince the Australian government and the need to sue France in connection with its nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific Ocean. By 1972, France was forced to end these tests. Also, educating unions in Australia about the dangers of uranium mining led to a 3-year ban on its mining and export.
In 1979, Helen visited the USSR and studied documents on the deployment of US cruise missiles, which could hit Moscow and other Soviet cities just 3 minutes after their launch. After that, Caldicott decides to leave his medical career and devote himself to ending the nuclear arms race and increasing dependence on nuclear energy.
In 1980, in the United States, she founded the Women's Association for Nuclear Disarmament, which was later renamed the Women's Association for New Directions. This community is working to reduce government spending on nuclear power and nuclear weapons and redirect them to other programs.
In 1961, the Physicians for Social Responsibility organization was created in the United States, which was virtually inactive until 1978. In 1978, Caldicott became its president, and over the next 5 years, he employs more than 23,000 doctors who, on a voluntary basis, began to educate the public and other doctors about the health hazards of nuclear energy. Helen has tried to establish branches of this organization or similar organizations in other countries around the world. Subsequently, the activities of this organization, renamed International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, received the Nobel Peace Prize.
After being accused of arrogating to herself extra powers and using hidden powers, Helen was forced to leave the organization in 1983.
In 1994, Caldicott published her new book, Nuclear Madness: What You Can Do, describing the medical consequences of using nuclear energy.
In 1995, she lectured in the United States for the New School for Social Research on global politics and the environment, and founded the STAR. For the truth about radiation."
In 2001, she published her sixth book, A New Nuclear Hazard: The Military-Industrial Complex of George W. Bush. In the same year, creates the Institute for Nuclear Policy Research, headquartered in Washington, DC. The organization conducts public education and media campaigns on the dangers of nuclear energy, researches energy and weapons programs and policies, and through public education campaigns seeks to end all uses of nuclear energy. This Institute is now called Beyond Nuclear.
In 2008, Helen creates the Helen Caldicott Foundation for a Nuclear-Free Future, which has been broadcasting the radio show If You Love This Planet for over 4 years.
In 2009, she called on Barack Obama to strive for a world without nuclear weapons. She pointed out that although George W. Bush had freed Europe from some nuclear weapons, Bill Clinton had never agreed on the complete elimination of strategic nuclear weapons.
In 2014, Caldicott gave a lecture in Seattle, Washington on the ongoing impact of Fukushima.
After Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, she accused him of not reading books and knowing nothing about US politics or world politics.
Documentaries
Helen Caldicott has starred in numerous documentaries and took part in television programs.
In 1980, the documentary We Are the Guinea Pigs, directed by Joan Harvey, was released.
In 1981, the documentary Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott, directed by Mary Benjamin, was filmed. The painting won an Academy Award.
In 1982, the short documentary If You Love This Planet, directed by Terry Nash, was released. The National Board of Cinematography of Canada has decided to award this film the Academy Award from Canada.
In 1984, the documentary In Our Hands, directed by Robert Richter and Stanley Varnov, appeared.
In 1998, WGBH produced the American Experience TV documentary.
The 2004 documentary Helen's War: A Portrait of a Dissident directed by Anna Broinowski gives a glimpse of Caldicott's life through the eyes of her niece.
In the same 2004, the film company Gary Null Movie Pictures with the help of director Gary Null shoots the documentary “Fatal Fallout. Bush's legacy , In 2005, the documentary Poison Dust, directed by Sue Harris, was filmed.
In 2007, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is filming an entire documentary series called Differences of Opinion.
In 2009, under the direction of director Denis Delestrac, Lovic Media Coptor Productions Inc is shooting the documentary Pax Americana and the Weapons of Space. In it, Caldicott gives interviews to foreign affairs experts, space security activists and military officials.
In 2010, Mohammed Elsawi and Joshua James filmed the documentary "The University of Nuclear Bombs".
In 2011, the television series Democracy Now! Was released.
In the 2013 documentary Pandora's Promise, Caldicott is interviewed about the health consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The film is directed by Robert Stone, filmed by Robert Stoun Productions and Vulcan Productions.
2013 also saw the release of a film directed by Peter Charles Downey and United Natures Independent Media, United Natures.
The third 2013 documentary on Caldicott's work is Pennsylvania Oracles Avenue, directed by Tim Wilkinson.
