A 24-year-old survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb was exposed in the womb of his mother and suffered from severe intellectual disability due to microcephaly

Nobuko Kogusa, a 24-year-old girl who was exposed in utero to the Hiroshima atomic bomb, was born on March 7, 1946. Due to the explosion of the atomic bomb, the fetus, which had been in the mother's womb for about two months, suffered genetic damage caused by radiation. Microcephaly is a markedly small head circumference. Microcephaly, caused by early exposure to radiation from a short distance from the hypocenter, was recognized as an atomic bomb disease on September 7, 1967. It is accompanied by severe mental retardation, with a child's level of intelligence, which interferes with daily life and social activities. With multiple disabilities, he was born with a congenital deformity that resulted in the total loss of function of his right ankle joint. She is 24 years old, but her height is only about that of an elementary school student.

　Eighteen parents and supporters of children with microcephaly who were exposed to the atomic bomb in utero have formed the Mushroom Association at P.O. Box 119, Hiroshima City Naka Bureau. The Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC), established by the U.S. during the occupation, published a paper in 1952 on 16 disabled children with A-bomb microcephaly. The ABCC, which investigated and studied microcephaly in children exposed in utero in Hiroshima, explained to parents of children suffering from A-bomb microcephaly that it was caused by malnutrition during pregnancy. In 1965, through research by the Hiroshima Study Group, the parties discovered a 1952 academic English paper that provided scientific evidence for A-bomb microcephaly, and in 1965, the Mushroom Association of 18 children and parents with A-bomb microcephaly was formed. In 1965, 18 children and their parents with A-bomb microcephaly formed the Mushroom Association, and in 1967, thanks to the social activism of those involved in the Mushroom Association and others, the Japanese government recognized the causal relationship between A-bomb microcephaly and the atomic bomb and issued an A-bomb Survivor Certificate.

　The name of the Mushroom Association comes from the phrase, "A life born under a mushroom cloud. Even if they live in the shade, we want them to grow up like mushrooms, pushing aside the fallen leaves" was the wish of the parents, children and supporters. The Mushroom Club for A-bomb Microcephaly suffered from the double discrimination of being an A-bomb survivor and a disabled person. 

A 4-year-old girl was exposed to the atomic bomb in Hiroshima City, and a 16-year-old girl with burns and keloids left on her left face and both hands underwent plastic surgery at the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Hospital.

The Hiroshima atomic bomb was dropped at 8:15 a.m. on August 1945, and the explosion exposed a huge number of Hiroshima citizens to the bomb. 4-year-old girl was exposed to the bomb in Hiroshima City, and was left with burns and keloids on her left face and hands. The exposed girl was admitted to the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Hospital on May 12, 1957, at the age of 16, to have the remaining scarring sequelae reshaped. After being admitted, the burns and keloids were formed by a surgical transplantation of skin from her thigh.

   The girl, nicknamed Ms. Kintoki, was about 4 years old when she was exposed to the bomb while sitting on the porch of her home in Fukushima-minami, Hiroshima, about 2 kilometers from the hypocenter. She lost consciousness and became trapped underneath another house. He was rescued by a neighboring acquaintance, and on May 12, 1957, he was admitted to the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital for plastic surgery. He underwent a total of nine plastic surgeries, including scars on his left neck, left anterior neck, and right elbow joint; after a skin grafting operation from his thigh to the affected area on October 21, he was strapped to the bed with a belt and cord because he needed absolute rest. Partial rest was not obtained and bleeding spots remained on the left cheek. The skin on both thighs was pulled off for grafting, and the scars remained and became ugly. On December 14, the girl was discharged from the hospital.

　In 1954, the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Hospital received a portion of the profits from the 1955 New Year's postcard lottery. The Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Hospital was set up on the premises of the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital, which opened on September 20, 1956. In Nagasaki, the Atomic Bomb Hospital was established in May 1958 with a portion of the profits from the New Year's postcards.  In 1957, there were many leukemia patients in the hospital's internal medicine ward and many young people undergoing plastic surgery for scars in the surgical ward; by 1967, the internal medicine ward was taking on more and more patients with malignant tumors and cancer.

Reunion of atomic scientists on the 4th Anniversary (1946) of the first controlled nuclear fission chain reaction, December 2, 1942, pictured in front of Bernard A. Eckhart Hall at the University of Chicago.

 The CP-1 (Chicago Pile 1) reactor became the first reactor in human history to reach criticality and trigger a fission chain reaction on December 2, 1942, at the University of Chicago's experimental reactor, producing plutonium-239, the material used in the atomic bomb. On its fourth anniversary, December 12, 1946, CP-1 atomic scientists pose for a group photo in front of Bernard A. Eckhart Hall at the University of Chicago, where they won a glorious victory for their contribution to the atomic bomb. The U.S. had been based in Manhattan, New York since August 3, 1942, when a group of scientists and the military began secretly working together to test the atomic bomb. Shortly thereafter, CP-1 was incorporated into the Manhattan Project's development of the atomic bomb.

  The nuclear age began at 5:30 a.m. on July 16, 1945. A nuclear weapon exploded at Trinity, near Alamogordo, New Mexico. A prelude to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which forced the surrender of Japan and ended World War II, the Trinity test was the culmination of a menacing devil's work by scientists, private industry, and the U.S. military to elicit atomic fission. During World War II, if Nazi Germany could have designed the first atomic bomb, Allied victory would have been almost lost. The U.S. Manhattan Project involved everything from a world war to a global war in order to design the world's first atomic bomb. From the clandestine origins of nuclear weapons at Oak Ridge, Hanford, and Los Alamos, the Manhattan Project unfolded until the day the U.S. military snatched victory from the Axis powers and won the war against Japan.

　At the pinnacle of nuclear weapons history, the Manhattan Project exploded Albert Einstein's famous equation E = MC2 against a staggering tyranny. In 1907, Einstein hypothesized an equation for the equivalence of mass and energy: energy (E) = mass (m) x speed of light (c) squared. In other words, he proved that any matter can produce an infinite and enormous amount of energy as the square of the speed of light. He suggested the birth of matter from the infinite and enormous energy of outer space. The Manhattan Project, which produced the atomic bomb, was led by scientist Robert Oppenheimer, who realized a working nuclear weapon on July 16, 1945. The project was actually manifested by President Roosevelt from a letter from Einstein and Leo Szilard. The Manhattan Project was the first project to set off a nuclear chain reaction, threatening the existence of the earth where atomic nuclei continue to split and explode.

Pioneers of the CP-1 (Chicago Pile 1) reactor reunited for their fourth anniversary in front of Bernard A. Eckhart Hall at the University of Chicago. Back row, left to right: Norman Hilberry, Samuel Allison, Thomas Brill, Robert G. Nobles, Warren Nyer Nyer, and Marvin Wilkening. Middle row: Harold Agnew, William Sturm, Harold Lichtenberger, Leona W. Marshall, Leo Szilard.) Front row: Enrico Fermi, Walter H. Zinn, Albert Wattenberg, and Herbert L. Anderson. 

Patients waiting for death at the fire-damaged by Hiroshima Atomic Bomb in the Hiroshima Red-Cross Hospital August 10, 1945.

A large number of A-bomb survivors were admitted to the hospital aid station at a branch of the Army Hospital attached to the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. The number is not known, but a large number of the injured poured in, some with severe burns from the August 6, 1945, explosion of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, and others on the verge of death on August 10. The room was filled with dying Hibakusha with burns on their faces and bodies, unable to wear clothes. Groans filled the large room, and even the water at their bedside could not be reached by themselves.

　When the atomic bomb exploded on August 6, 1945, the Army Hospital Annex, which was attached to the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital, was located about 1.6 kilometers south of the hypocenter. The three-story hospital ward was severely damaged, leaving the outer wall intact, but firefighting efforts prevented a fire. Only the exterior of the main building and other buildings remained, but the intense blast blew out the windows, and the interior of the building was a misery with debris scattered in the corridors. All of the X-ray films stored at the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital were sensitized by the bombing, proving the radiation caused by the explosion of the atomic bomb. The city of Hiroshima was prepared for air raids, but the unprecedented explosion of the atomic bomb destroyed the city center, making it difficult to provide relief. First aid stations were set up in half-destroyed or slightly damaged national schools, temples, and private homes on the outskirts of Hiroshima.

　Immediately after the explosion, the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital was flooded with a large number of survivors, and treatment began. The Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital and the Hiroshima Hospital of Communications and Communication, which had sustained relatively little damage and whose medical functions were still intact, became the bases for relief centers in the city center. Later, the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Hospital was established on the premises of the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital in Senda-machi, Naka Ward, Hiroshima City, with about 65 million yen from the distribution of profits from the New Year's postcards with New Year's gifts in 1954 and 1955, and opened on September 20, 1956.