Uploaded January 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Harriet Hardy was a pioneer in the field of Occupational Medicine. In 1946 Harriet Hardy, physician and industrial toxicologist, identified beryllium as the cause of a chronic respiratory disease. In 1952, she established the National Beryllium Registry, one of the first registries to collect long-term data on a chronic health disorder. She worked with the Atomic Energy Commission, the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, United Mine Workers, and Coal Workers' Safety Board. Committed to social reform, she hoped science would solve workplace hazards and improve the well-being of workers. Harriet Hardy was born in Arlington, Massachusetts in 1906. She wanted to be a doctor from a very young age, and after graduating from Wellesley College with a bachelor's degree in science, she enrolled at Cornell University Medical School, one of the first coeducational medical schools in the country. In 1945 Dr. Hardy took a position at the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Hygiene. After her first assignment, studying lung disease in fluorescent light bulb factory workers, she spent two years documenting and arguing the harmfulness of exposure to beryllium. In 1948, she was invited to bring her research and worker protection policies to the Health Division of the Atomic Energy Scientific (and later National) Laboratory in Los Alamos. She spent the year documenting more cases of beryllium poisoning and lecturing on "man-made disease." Alice Hamilton, M.D., the first woman on the faculty at Harvard and a leading authority on occupational illness invited her to help revise her textbook Industrial Toxicology, and after completing her research in California and the work on the book Dr. Hardy returned to the Division of Occupational Hygiene. In 1949, the fluorescent lamp industry agreed to eliminate beryllium, and Hardy opened a clinic for workers with occupational illnesses, funded by the newly formed National Institutes of Health (NIH). The medical director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) invited Dr. Hardy to serve as a consultant to the university, and from 1949 to 1970 she directed the Occupational Medicine Service (later, the Environmental Medical Service) which she founded there. It was one of the first programs of its kind in a academic setting. Hardy traveled widely for research and for pleasure and investigated respiratory disease in factories and mines around the world. In 1958 she was the first woman to be appointed associate clinical professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Over the next decade she was a well-respected researcher and advocate in the field of occupational health. She retired due to ill health in the early 1970s, but continued to publish and work as a consultant on a number of projects. Her autobiography, Challenging Man-Made Disease, was published in 1983. Her biographic information above is from the website cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_138.html . Thanks to filmmaker Abby Ginzberg for allowing me to post clips from her wonderful 1989 film, Those Who Know Don’t Tell which is posted to this channel. To see more of her amazing work, visit the website socialactionmedia.com/.
Harriet Hardy was a pioneer in the field of Occupational Medicine. In 1946 Harriet Hardy, physician and industrial toxicologist, identified beryllium as the cause of a chronic respiratory disease. In 1952, she established the National Beryllium Registry, one of the first registries to collect long-term data on a chronic health disorder. She worked with the Atomic Energy Commission, the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, United Mine Workers, and Coal Workers' Safety Board. Committed to social reform, she hoped science would solve workplace hazards and improve the well-being of workers. Harriet Hardy was born in Arlington, Massachusetts in 1906. She wanted to be a doctor from a very young age, and after graduating from Wellesley College with a bachelor's degree in science, she enrolled at Cornell University Medical School, one of the first coeducational medical schools in the country. In 1945 Dr. Hardy took a position at the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Hygiene. After her first assignment, studying lung disease in fluorescent light bulb factory workers, she spent two years documenting and arguing the harmfulness of exposure to beryllium. In 1948, she was invited to bring her research and worker protection policies to the Health Division of the Atomic Energy Scientific (and later National) Laboratory in Los Alamos. She spent the year documenting more cases of beryllium poisoning and lecturing on "man-made disease." Alice Hamilton, M.D., the first woman on the faculty at Harvard and a leading authority on occupational illness invited her to help revise her textbook Industrial Toxicology, and after completing her research in California and the work on the book Dr. Hardy returned to the Division of Occupational Hygiene. In 1949, the fluorescent lamp industry agreed to eliminate beryllium, and Hardy opened a clinic for workers with occupational illnesses, funded by the newly formed National Institutes of Health (NIH). The medical director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) invited Dr. Hardy to serve as a consultant to the university, and from 1949 to 1970 she directed the Occupational Medicine Service (later, the Environmental Medical Service) which she founded there. It was one of the first programs of its kind in a academic setting. Hardy traveled widely for research and for pleasure and investigated respiratory disease in factories and mines around the world. In 1958 she was the first woman to be appointed associate clinical professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Over the next decade she was a well-respected researcher and advocate in the field of occupational health. She retired due to ill health in the early 1970s, but continued to publish and work as a consultant on a number of projects. Her autobiography, Challenging Man-Made Disease, was published in 1983. Her biographic information above is from the website cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_138.html . Thanks to filmmaker Abby Ginzberg for allowing me to post clips from her wonderful 1989 film, Those Who Know Don’t Tell which is posted to this channel. To see more of her amazing work, visit the website socialactionmedia.com/.
