[...]...2 A Personal History of Nuclear Medicine Figure 1 Elias Zerhouni trained in nuclear medicine at Johns Hopkins At present, he is head of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland “atomic medicine and associated it with the development of the atomic bomb The field was based on the same scientific principles that had produced the atomic bomb There was in those days an underlying fear of anything... Britain was subjected to the Blitz by the German Luftwaffe The British could only survive and prevail because of the invention of radar, which had occurred several years before, based on the original work of Dr Robert A Watson-Watt, then head of Britain’s Radio Research Laboratory His work led to the establishment of a chain of Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) stations along the south and east coasts... that the ultimate example of luxury in those days was when Survival of the Luckiest 25 Figure 14 Football team at Calvert Hall Country School HNW at the left of the first row Figure 15 The Wagner family gathered at the establishment of an endowed Chair in Nuclear Medicine at Johns Hopkins named after Henry N Wagner, Jr 26 A Personal History of Nuclear Medicine the father of one of my girl friends gave... was valedictorian of his class in the 8th grade at Calvert Hall Country School in 1937 and again in his senior year at Calvert Hall in 1941 For having the highest average for four years at Calvert Hall, he received a full scholarship to Johns Hopkins University I was valedictorian at Calvert Hall Country School in 1940, and again in the senior year at Calvert Hall in 1944 Eventually, both Herman and... ship, Danmark, of the U.S Coast Guard, that had fled to the United States at the beginning of World War II instead of returning to its homeport in Denmark We sailed under a bridge spanning the Thames 10 A Personal History of Nuclear Medicine River in New London, Connecticut, and docked at the dock of the Coast Guard Academy I was one of 100 first year cadets who had entered the Academy in June 1945 after... country, with a population of more than a quarter of a million Our house on Fayette St was in the parish of St Martin’s Catholic Church, one of the oldest in Baltimore, founded in 1865 on the site of a Civil War military camp, by its first pastor, John S Foley St Martin’s was the center of the lives and social activities of many 20 A Personal History of Nuclear Medicine Figure 11 The Wagner family in 1928... scientists all over the world Before radioactive tracers could be used in human beings, the patients had to be convinced that it was safe to have “radioactivity” injected into their veins as part of the diagnostic process or medical treatment Fear was understandable “Fallout” was another cause of fear It can occur when radioactive debris that has accumulated in the atmosphere after the testing of atomic... huge areas of contamination Some feared (erroneously) that nuclear power plants could explode in the same way as atomic bombs The greatest fear was “proliferation” of nuclear weapons by hostile countries Nuclear reactors at universities could also lead to nuclear weapons Even today, five university nuclear reactors—the University of Wisconsin, Oregon State, Washington State, Purdue, the University of. .. interest It was the first time a physiological process had been measured with a radioactive tracer, making the measurements with an externally-placed radiation detector directed at a part of the body of a living human being On July 4, 1924, a year before Herman Blumgart’s historic first study of the circulation with a radioactive tracer, my mother planned to accompany my 60-year-old grandmother on an overnight... Alvarez and his colleagues detected an airplane 2 miles away The head of the laboratory, Lee DuBridge, exclaimed: “We’ve done it, boys.” The success in Britain and the United States on the development of radar changed the course of World War II, saved tens of thousands of lives, and subsequently revolutionized air travel, navigation, and weather forecasting The enormous value of radar was clear in 1940 . class="bi x0 y0 w1 h1" alt="" A Personal History of Nuclear Medicine Henry N. Wagner, Jr. A Personal History of Nuclear Medicine Henry N. Wagner, Jr., MD, PhD Professor of Environmental Health. original work of Dr. Robert A. Watson-Watt, then head of Britain’s Radio Research Laboratory. His work led to the establishment of a chain of Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) stations along. veins as part of the diagnostic process or medical treatment. Fear was understandable. “Fallout” was another cause of fear. It can occur when radioactive debris that has accumulated in the atmosphere