12 Comments

  1. I had never heard of him ether until he was mentioned in the last thread. His work is a legacy that has fallen to us to keep alive.

  2. This man’s story deserves to be told and made into a movie. If he were alive, he would be sculpting in Fukushima right now.

  3. The man was a schizophrenic who smashed smoke detectors to access radioactive Americium. God knows what else he did. He was a danger to himself and others. It’s sad he died. But what he really needed wasn’t being stroked as some sort of great artist (I have yet to see any modern art worthy of the legacy of Sistine Chapel or other true works of art). He needed to be sequestered in a mental health facility where he could have gotten the medical attention he needed so that his suicide could have been prevented.

    So sad that a mad man is held up as some sort of example. Under liberal Democracy murder is choice, filth is marriage and insanity is sane.

    BTW, you’ll just love my latest blog entry. Ha! Ha!

  4. Thanks for putting this post up on James Acord Rod. I would just add here now, in response to any current or future comments about his mental health etc, meeting someone is key (not just what you read). Having met him on a number of occasions, and shared many conversations over several cups of coffee in Knightsbridge (London), he never once came over as anything other than totally fascinating and a true gentleman.

    That said, he did have a struggle over in the UK (and elsewhere) getting time on machines (nuclear reactor / particle accelerator) in order to make a piece of art. He wanted to transmute Tc-99 to ruthenium-99 and make a sculpture with the resulting material. This was supposed to show, using art, the physics of transmutation and how one day this might be used to deal with radioactive waste. Many who had the keys to such sources of neutrons looked upon this as a non-justified (trivial?) use of technology. This is where many ‘in the industry’ felt that James Acord was dangerous and I know this frustrated him greatly.

  5. I was amused by two comments he made. He said that when he was teaching Art to Nuclear engineers that they usually felt that their least talented children would wind up in the Arts. And also when he was looking for a gallery to show his self made plutonium that he was not very welcome. He said he was the Nuclear Industries worst nightmare. I can think of a few worse nightmares. But thanks Rod for posting them.

    Have any of you seen the latest gimmicky novelty item being sold at fairs etc. that is a heating pad that is a plastic bag full of colored liquid and a coin shaped metal trigger that when squeezed causes the liquid to heat up and crystallize. The heat lasts for a couple of hours. To reuse them the solidified crystal needs to be heated in a microwave or boiling water and after cooling down they are ready to use again. Really fascinating. I was seeing some crossover to this discussion. Art and chemistry in this case. Functional, non-toxic pretty colored bags become heaters. I don’t see the connection to nuclear yet but there is one there I just can’t put my finger on it.

  6. Super Bowl ads. Wanna bet that either gas, oil or the unreliables may take a crack at it ?

    Nuclear misses an opportunity. I am sure there is a way to think outside the box. Too bad we can’t pick James Acord’ brain on that. What a creative mind he had.

  7. I was so happy to read this. . I was the one to issue Jim his license and did several inspections of his place. He did indeed tatoo the license number we (the State of Washington) gave him. He was a joy to work with as you can tell by this article. I had lost track of him but heard he had died. I will share this with others who appreciated what he did. I am co-president of a local organization – The Society of Radioactive Women (we have a large men’s auxillary too) . we give an annual Award for Valor and he was the 5th recipient.

  8. I knew Jim pretty well. More than one beer was exchanged. He taught me alot about granite carving,along side of some nuclear art.

    Reviewing some of his work as I watch Fukushima unfold.

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