Medicine
The medical profession is dedicated to repairing and healing the human body. Although many mysteries still surround medicine, doctors are trying to solve these mysteries of the body through research.
A medical scientist may decide to specialize exclusively in the use of radioactive materials. If so, he is called a radiologist and is an expert in the use of radiation beams, injection of radioisotopes, and implantation of radioactivity into the body, as well as in the use of the more familiar radium and X-ray devices.
The practicing physician also, after receiving special training and licensing, may use radiation and radioisotopes as another tool in his little black bag. For instance, a suspected thyroid disorder can be diagnosed by following the behavior of a small, harmless dose of radioactive iodine in the patient. A tumor may be brought under control with the use of a strong beam of radiation directed at the diseased tissue.
Behind the physician stand teams of medical research scientists testing the effects of radiation on tissues and cultures and serums in the laboratory. They strive to increase knowledge of the medical benefits of atomic energy.
Nurses in nuclear medicine understand how to handle radioactivity. Pharmacists who enter the field prepare radioactive pharmaceuticals for clinical uses.
Related Fields
It is convenient to discuss scientific activity in the general categories of physics, chemistry, biology, geology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine, but strict lines are not actually drawn around these areas.
There are in the United States today about 2000 individuals who are engaged in a profession that did not even exist twenty years ago: these are the health physicists, who are neither medical men nor physicists. They have backgrounds in physics, true, and they combine this training with training in physiology, botany, chemistry, mathematics, and instrumentation.
It is the duty of the health physicist to evaluate and control any potential hazard in the use of nuclear energy. The health physicist understands the effects of radiation on human tissues and plants. He keeps a constant check on radiation levels in installations where radioactivity is used; he foresees emergencies that might arise; he eliminates unsafe practices; and he assures that personnel working in nuclear energy fields are free from related hazards. The health physicist is a key figure in making the nuclear energy industry one of the safest in the world.