INTRODUCTION 



There are people to whom physical intuitions come naturally, who can state a 

 problem in physical terms, who can recognize physical relations when they turn 

 up, who can express results in physical terms. These intellectual qualities more 

 than any special facility with physical instruments and methods, are essential .... 

 Equally essential, however, are the corresponding qualities, intuitions and experi- 

 ence of the biologist .... The chief concern in the development of biophysics is 

 that those [experimental] skills should be acquired by people who start with the 

 right intellectual approach, both physical and biological. 



On the question of scope of medical biophysics, Hill says: 



... If biophysics is to make its contribution to medicine, it is necessary that 

 most physicians should have some idea at least of what it is about, while some 

 physicians should have a pretty good idea. The ideas and methods of physics and 

 physical chemistry are being applied today and will increasingly be applied, not 

 only directly to physical medicine and radiology, but to neurology, to the study 

 of circulation, of respiration and excretion, and of the adjustment of the body to 

 abnormal conditions of life and work. At longer range, moreover, they will be 

 aimed at the fundamental problems of minute structure and organization, of the 

 physical basis of growth and inheritance, of the ordered and organized sequence 

 of chemical reactions in vital processes, of the means by which energy is supplied 

 and directed to vital ends. 



TABLE 1. Disciplines Surrounding Biophysics 



o 

 u 



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> a. 



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uUl 



V TJ 



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en 



>> m 



"3d a 



C O 



'35 £ 



re l— ' 



v 



s_ 



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c 



Clinical Studies 



General Biology, Bacteriology, Immunology 



Anatomy 



Histology, Pathology 



Pharmacology, Physiology 



Biochemistry, Biophysics 



Physical Chemistry, Physics 



Mathematics, Philosophy 



Today, by the very nature of its origin, biophysics reaches into general 

 physiology to some extent. Today, what subject matter is proper to bio- 

 physics, and even more so to medical biophysics, is not unequivocally de- 

 fined. Further, just as did biochemistry, it will probably take 25 to 50 years 

 for the scope of biophysics to evolve into general acceptance. 



