Science Takes a Trip

Gr 4-6–What visited 16 countries and trained 1,500 scientists from 1958 to 1965? Two mobile laboratories donated to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by the United States. This picture book tells a forgotten piece of history from the Cold War era. Readers learn that these buses were equipped with “a chemical laboratory and a radiation measurement chamber” and large enough to train six people at a time. Beautiful illustrations capture moments along the journey such as one of the labs being lifted by crane onto a freighter, or a lab on the street in Southeast Asia being passed by bicycles and rickshaws. Some illustrations fill the entire spread, while others fill just one page and the facing page holds text and several smaller images. Back matter includes photos from the IAEA archives and a brief synopsis of the program. There is also a QR code to access a video from the author about her research into the topic. This is a very useful book to include in social studies units on the Cold War and the early days of research into uses for nuclear energy.