The History of Nuclear Medicine
Michael Ljungberg in Handbook of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging for Physicists, 2022
A few months later, another unknown type of radiation was discovered. On 26 March 1896, Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852–1908] accidentally discovered an unknown phenomenon when examining fluorescence from uranium salts. With the encouragement of his friend, Henri Poincaré, Becquerel attempted to determine if the rays were of the same nature as Röntgen’s X-rays; however, he observed that the emitted radiation from the uranium penetrated black paper and blackened a photographic plate without having to be exposed to light in advance [1, 2]. This unknown radiation was first termed as “Becquerel rays”, but its origin was established later by Paul Villard (1860–1934) in 1900 while he was studying radium salts. Villard’s radiation was named gamma rays in 1903 by Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937).
Development of Radiobiology: A Review
Kedar N. Prasad in Handbook of RADIOBIOLOGY, 2020
The development of radiation biology began immediately after the discovery of the X-ray by Roentgen in 1895. Becquerel and Curie observed that certain substances (compounds of uranium, radium, and polonium) were naturally radioactive. Since then, the development of radiation biology has been linked with the advancement of nuclear physics and basic cell biology on the one hand and with the growing awareness of the hazards and usefulness of ionizing radiation on the other. Some of the major discoveries in nuclear physics16,17,24 and biology5,8,20,23,28–31 that have influenced the growth of radiation biology are briefly described.
Radioactivity and radiation
Alan Martin, Sam Harbison, Karen Beach, Peter Cole in An Introduction to Radiation Protection, 2018
The becquerel is defined as one nuclear disintegration per second and, compared with the curie, it is a very small unit. In practice, most radioactive sources are much larger than the becquerel and the following multiplying prefixes are used to describe them: 1 becquerel (Bq) = 1 dps1 kilobecquerel (kBq) = 103 Bq = 103 dps1 megabecquerel (MBq) = 106 Bq = 106 dps1 gigabecquerel (GBq) = 109 Bq = 109 dps1 terabecquerel (TBq) = 1012 Bq = 1012 dps1 petabecquerel (PBq) = 1015 Bq = 1015 dps
Cohort profile – MSK radiation workers: a feasibility study to establish a deceased worker sub-cohort as part of a multicenter medical radiation worker component in the million person study of low-dose radiation health effects
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2022
Lawrence T. Dauer, Meghan Woods, Daniel Miodownik, Brian Serencsits, Brian Quinn, Michael Bellamy, Craig Yoder, Xiaolin Liang, John D. Boice, Jonine Bernstein
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) consisting of Memorial Hospital (MH) and the Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI) laboratories has a unique history with regard to the use of radiation for the diagnostic and therapeutic treatment of cancer and allied diseases. The initial New York Cancer Hospital (NYCH) was founded in 1884, barely a decade before the seminal burst of discoveries in radiation. Wilhelm Roentgen discovers ‘X-Rays’ in 1895 and a week later makes his famous first X-ray images of the hand of Mrs. Roentgen (Anna Bertha Ludwig) wearing her wedding ring (Pietzch 2018). Henri Becquerel subsequently discovered ‘radioactivity’ and radioactive materials in 1896 and this was quickly followed by the discovery of ‘polonium’ and ‘radium’ by the Curies (Nobel 2018). Immediate attention is given to the application of these rays and materials to the healing arts. Research and use began almost immediately across the world, even in New York where Thomas Edison demonstrated fluoroscopes in 1896 (King 2012). As early as 1902, the NYCH employed X-Rays and X-ray therapies, practices that continue through the present. Also, as early as 1902, several adverse biological effects began to be identified in some medical radiation workers, both short-term (e.g. reddening of the skin, dermatitis, skin ulceration, epilation, eye irritation) and longer-term (e.g. skin cancers, cataracts, and other cancers) (Linet et al. 2010).
Cost of fear and radiation protection actions: Washington County, Utah and Fukushima, Japan {Comparing case histories}
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2020
Bruce W. Church, Antone L. Brooks
For the NTS offsite public, which included Washington County, the radiation exposure guides/standards in the early 1950’s, were 3.9 R/series, which represents approximately 39 mSv/y (Shipman 1952; Collison 1953; Dunning 1955). In comparison, the radiation exposure reference guides used in Fukushima were set at 1–20 mSv/y (Urabe 2014). According to Urabe et al., ‘the people tended to request the lowest level of the reference level recommended by the ICRP for protective actions in the existing exposure situation’. This change in standards and public perception (fear) could, in large part, be the cause of the very different actions taken following each event. The units used and the expression of dose to measure these exposures were different. Thus, it is important to convert the units used in St. George; Roentgens (exposure), Curies (activity), Rad, and Rem (dose), to the international units used in Fukushima; Becquerel (activity), Grays, and Sieverts (dose). Since both events were the result of contamination with low LET radiation, beta gamma emitting radionuclides, especially 137Cs, it is possible to directly convert the units and make useful comparisons of the radiation exposures and doses. Since the reported doses were mostly from external gamma irradiation for both Utah and Japan, they are similar.
Radiation protection biology then and now
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2019
Andrzej Wojcik, Mats Harms-Ringdahl
The importance of Röntgen’s discovery for the field of medical diagnostics was realized immediately. By early 1896, X-rays started to be widely used for probing the human body (Rowland 1896; Roberts 1897; Farmelo 1995). There was no reason to assume that radiation exposure was associated with any harm. Indeed, how could harm arise from an agent that could not be appreciated by the senses? X-rays were regarded as ‘invisible light’, a concept created by Röntgen himself, who tested it by looking directly into the X-ray beam (Röntgen 1895). Moreover, radiation was proclaimed to be the source of energy which was responsible for driving biochemical reactions in the body. This belief was boosted by the discovery of radioactivity by Henrie Becquerel and Marie and Pierre Curie along with the recognition that waters in many health spas were radioactive (Macklis 1996).
Related Knowledge Centers
- Absorption
- Beta Particle
- Polonium
- Radioactive Decay
- Thorium
- X-Ray
- Crookes Tube
- Radiation Therapy