Radiobiology Symposium 1954 [antikvár]

FOREWORD In December 1952 an informal discussion was held under the auspices of the Faraday Society in Cambridge on the chemistry of biological after-effects of ultraviolet and ionizing radiations. At this well-attended meeting it became apparent that the study of radiobiology, in which many scientists were now engaged, would be advanced by having informal and friendly symposia so that the workers from different fields and disciplines engaged in studying the effects of ionizing radiation could meet and discuss. For this purpose a small committee composed of Bacq, Bonet-Maury, Hevesy, Hollaender and Mitchell was set up and the first such meeting was organized in Aarhus (Denmark) in July 1953. The great success of this meeting showed that the need existed and that the general scheme of informality limited numbers, and emphasis on discussion was sound. The second symposium on Radiobiology was held in Liege and these meetings are now planned to take place annually. The great International Congress cannot cater satisfactorily for radiobiology since this subject cuts right across the boundaries of the different sciences and it is necessary that physicists, chemists, biochemists, physiologists, cytologists, geneticists and radiotherapists should look together at the problem involved. To ensure that the different members of the symposia can make their full contribution we felt that it would be very useful to circulate preprints of the paper or at least to provide detailed abstracts. This is particularly necessary when scientists meet who research in different subjects, since the specialist reading a paper can often not be followed easily by those not working in the same field. Yet, it is the fusion of the different disciplines which these symposia are intended to promote. At the Liege meeting papers or abstracts were pre-circulated; the high level of the discussion and the large programme covered show the value of the measure. In this volume we have collected the papers which were presented and the discussion except in a few cases where authors had made arrangements for publication elsewhere. A few participants were invited to contribute reviews but the majority of the papers consist of new experimental work. We felt that it was of the utmost importance that publication should be quick in this rapidly growing field. The appearance of this volume four months after the deadline for contributions was made possible only by the authors who adhered strictly to the dates given them and above all by Messrs. Butterworth who gave us every assistance and who dealt so expeditiously with the production. Z.M. BAcq P. Alexander Liege and London December 1954