University Library

1951 - 1958

Due to this academic background, Dr. Reynolds was recruited by the National Academy of Science to go to Hiroshima, Japan, to be a staff anthropologist and later coordinator of research for the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC). His position was funded by the Atomic Energy Commission, the precursor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The focus of the work was measuring the effects of radiation on the growth and development of children exposed during the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The three years of studies led not only to a deep personal concern for world peace, but to a paper eventually presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropology Association in Mexico City, (Dec. 28th, 1959), that revealed the unpopular truths to be found about the physical dangers of exposure to nuclear radiation. Report was published in The Processes of Ongoing Human Evolution, Gabriel W. Lasker, ed., Detroit: Wayne University Press, 1960.

Boat Earle

While working in Hiroshima, Dr. Reynolds also found time to follow his boyhood dream of designing a sailboat. With money from Barbara and encouraged by the low cost of ship building at the time, Earle supervised the building of a 50 foot ketch using traditional Japanese methods.

Family EarleHis research drawing to a close, he turned his thoughts to another dream, sailing around the world and concentrated his efforts on convincing the family to give up everything for this adventure.  On October 26, 1956, Earle, Barbara, Tim, Ted, Jessica, Nick Mikami, and two other Japanese crewmen set sail on the ketch, now named Phoenix of Hiroshima, from the Takamatsu Harbor for Honolulu. After the initial voyage, Tim left for the mainland to continue his higher education. But the rest continued on an around the world tour. After 645 days, 1222 ports and 54,000 nautical miles, the Phoenix once again sailed into Honolulu harbor. It was a port of call that would change their lives forever.