Abstract
Too often the word `radiation' is connected in the minds and souls of people with the danger of new Chernobyls, but this is a very biased view.
This issue of European Journal of Physics contains six articles on medical applications of nuclear and high-energy physics. The subjects range from classical radioactive tracers to oncological proton beam therapy, synchrotron radiation angiography, super-sensitive detectors of x-rays (which allow even babies to be screened), and super-fast computer programs which would permit the calculation of irradiation doses for tumours with unprecedented accuracy.
These spin-offs of nuclear and particle physics research represent, of course, only a small sample from medical physics. One could also mention some of the other applications such as nuclear magnetic resonance tomography, laser ophthalmology or cryogenic surgery.
Medical physics itself is one of many unforeseen fruits of basic research in physics. Think, for example, of the World Wide Web which was born at CERN and which within a decade has changed the daily lives of millions of people. Thus `useless' scientific curiosity has turned out to form the basis of high-tech breakthroughs, providing mankind with the most effective instruments for fighting diseases as well as for monitoring, preserving and improving the environment.
We hope that this issue of European Journal of Physics will contribute to a wider understanding of the role of radiation.
Maria Salete Leite
Lev Okun
Guest Editors