A rainy afternoon, late in August, 1979. We are in the basement of a conference center in Stony Point, New York. From the next room come muffled voices and occasional laughter. It is close to the end of a Conference on Global Dimensions of Justice Issues. A few workshops are still in progress.

Dr. Bertell is here to lead one of the workshops. She lives in Buffalo with the Order of the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart. She has been a nun since 1951. She is also a mathematician and an expert on the relationship between low-level radiation and public health.

She is fifty years old, a small woman, with short, graying hair, dressed simply, without makeup or jewelry. She does not wear a nun’s habit. Her speech is thoughtful and slow, until she talks about how data from health studies has been suppressed. “There’s been a campaign since 1951 to convince the public that low-level radiation is harmless.” She leans forward, indignant. “People have a right to know what’s happening to human health.”

Dr. Bertell once worked for Bell Aircraft, interpreting data from tests of guided missile systems. Now she is labeled by many as an enemy of the nuclear industry. “The patriotic thing to do is to get it all out into the open. Let people know what’s happening.” She sometimes fears for her own safety but feels she has no choice. “I can’t go on with business as usual with what I’ve seen and with what I know.” She remembers when she began to speak out. “I was very naive. Very dumb. I had no idea what I was walking into. There was a whole evolution to my understanding.”