Between Medicine and Industry: Medical Physics and the Rise of the Radioisotope 1945–65.

This article explores the development of clinical uses for the artificial radioisotope between 1945 and 1965. As part of the broader nuclear enterprise, the radioisotope programme enjoyed powerful political and financial support from the British government. In 1945, medical uses for artificial radioactivity remained highly experimental, yet in less than two decades its application in imaging technologies formed a mainstay of diagnostic medicine. This study examines the range of technical, political, economic, institutional and professional factors that shaped the journey from medical periphery to medical practice. The role of medical physicists is emphasised and examined within the wider framework of radiation medicine, the nuclear industry and the Medical Research Council. The radioisotope came to form the basis of a vast new industry and became an important context for the post-war expansion of clinical research in Britain. It also spurred the development of a diverse set of medical technologies that were to profoundly shape the contours of contemporary medicine. More broadly, the study casts light on the evolving dynamics between the physical sciences, technology and medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]