Personalities that Shaped the Radiological
Sciences
Dr. Catalin Frujinoiu
Department of Physics
Idaho State University
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, Antoine Henri Becquerel, Marie Sklodowska and Pierre
Curie launched the last century of physics into a new and exciting domain
within which the framework of radiological sciences took shape. Soon after
the beneficial and detrimental effects of the radiation were hypothesized,
these pioneers were followed by other dedicated scientists willing to serve
the good of mankind. Among them, Louis Harold Gray (1905 – 1965), a
pupil of Ernest Rutherford, established the basis of radiobiology. During
this time, Rolf Maximilian Sievert (1898 – 1966) initiated one of the first
radiation protection laws and founded ICRU and ICRP. By developing the new
science of microdosimetry, Harald R. Rossi (1917 – 2000) dominated the biophysical
aspects of radiation biology in the last quarter of the 20th century. Martin
Berger (1922), the father of Monte Carlo transport methods, evaluated stopping
powers that became standard reference data for radiation science. Ugo Fano
(1912 – 2001) took Enrico Fermi’s advice to study the biological action of
radiation and, after over 50 years of “doing physics” – Fano’s words, he
made an outstanding contribution to radiological sciences. Being a faithful
servant to this domain, Fano often urged his colleagues to “... make radiation
research not only useful for the public but also respectable in the eyes
of basic scientists”. Although much was learned from these giants, more was
left to be discovered. At ISU, faculty and students, using a unique collection
of particle accelerators, are engaged in an interdisciplinary project to
investigate unknown aspects of radiobiology. These aspects include: dose
rate effects, variation of the radiation quality factor with dose, bystander
effect, and bio-responses within milliseconds.