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- An early experimental discharge tube with partial vacuum invented by English physicist William Crookes.
- Cathode rays and streams of electrons were discovered.
- When a high voltage is applied between the electrodes, cathode rays (electrons) are projected in straight lines from the cathode.
- Later... Manufacturing began for specialized Crookes tubes to generate X-rays, the first X-ray tubes. (Cold cathode tubes)
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- Roentgen was experimenting with a cathode-ray tube when he noticed that a fluorescent screen on a nearby table began to glow, even though the tube was shielded.
- He realized that an invisible radiation, which he called "X-rays" because of their unknown nature, was passing through the shielding.
- He quickly demonstrated the rays' ability to penetrate soft tissue but not bone by producing the first X-ray image of his wife's hand, showing her bones and the ring she was wearing.
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- Marie Curie is most famous for her research into radioactivity, a term that she coined herself.
- She won two Nobel Prizes and discovered the elements polonium and radium.
- Her discoveries were important because they opened the field of radioactivity. Her work led directly to medical advancements, most notably the use of X-rays and radiation therapy to treat cancer.
- She developed mobile X-ray units during WWI allowing surgeons to locate shrapnel and operate more accurately on soldiers.
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- Einstein's theory of special relativity is built on the fact that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant for all observers, regardless of their own motion.
- This is crucial because light is a form of electromagnetic radiation.
- Einstein's paper on the photoelectric effect established the idea that light consists of discrete packets of energy called photons.
- This is a big piece of quantum theory, essential for understanding interaction of radiation with matter.
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- Concept developed 1911, published 1923.
- The discovery stemmed from the failure to separate radioactive lead from stable lead, leading to realization that since they are chemically identical, the radioactive isotope could be used as a tracer to track the stable element in biological systems.
- 1st used method to study lead uptake in plants. Later used other isotopes like radioactive sodium to study its distribution in the body, demonstrating how it moved into cells and was excreted.
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- Marie Curie and her daughter Irène equipped and operated these mobile X-ray units to bring medical imaging to wounded soldiers on the front lines.
- WW1, The fleet of mobile units and fixed X-ray centers Marie Curie established, treated over a million wounded soldiers during the war.
- The mobile X-ray units revolutionized battlefield medicine by allowing doctors to locate shrapnel and fractures quickly.
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- During World War I, Irène Joliot-Curie earned her diploma as a radiological nurse in March 1915.
- She accompanied her mother, Marie Curie, in setting up radiological equipment in field hospitals.
- In 1920, she obtained her degree in physical sciences and began working at the Curie Laboratory of the Radium Institute, where she prepared her thesis on the alpha rays of polonium.
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- The Trinity test was the worlds first atomic bomb detonation.
- It took place in the Alamogordo Bombing and gunnery range, South of the Los Alamos Labs where 'Little Boy' and 'Fat Man' were developed.
- The site had been selected for its supposed isolation. In reality, thousands of people were within 40-miles, some as close as 12 miles away. Those living near the bomb site weren’t warned about the test, nor were they evacuated before or after. Radioactive fallout continued to drop for days.
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- 'Little Boy' was made of enriched uranium, while 'Fat Man' was made of plutonium.
- The 2 bombs initiated nuclear fission: Little Boy used a gun-type method to fire a uranium projectile into a uranium target. Fat Man used an implosion method to compress a plutonium core.
- 70k people were killed instantly. Those who survived blast were hit with a shockwave that leveled structures within a mile, followed by intense heat creating a firestorm that engulfed the city and claimed more lives.
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- The partial nuclear meltdown of the Unit 2 reactor of the 3 Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station happened on March 28th, 1979.
- Radioactive gasses and iodine were released into the environment. In total, approximately 2.5 megacuries of radioactive gases and approximately 15 curies of iodine-131 were released into the environment.
- The average radiation dose to people living within 10 miles of the plant was 0.08 mSv, and no more than 1 mSv to any single individual.
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- The #4 reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded.
- The explosion immediately killed two engineers. Of the 237 workers hospitalized, 134 showed symptoms of acute radiation syndrome, 28 of them died within 3 months.
- Following the explosion an emergency operation began to put out the fires and stabilize the reactor.
- It is estimated that Chernobyl released about 400 times more radioactive material than the combined atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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- 1990: A major technology leap occurred with invention of the multileaf collimator. This made techniques like intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) possible, which could shape the radiation dose to match the three-dimensional shape of a tumor more precisely.
- 2000s-Present: Advancements in 3D imaging (CT, MRI) and software have further improved accuracy.
- This led to more precise techniques like volumetric modulated arc therapy and stereotactic body radiation therapy.