FOREWORD 



The study of radiobiology demands the integration of many areas of 

 thought in physics, chemistry, and biology. Our academic disciplines are so 

 compartmented that it is often difficult for investigators working on one phase of 

 a problem in radiobiology to know about the important events occurring in other 

 phases. It is in an attempt to overcome this difficulty in communication that the 

 National Research Council, Committee on Nuclear Science, Subcommittee on 

 Radiobiology, has thus far organized three conferences. The first was a sym- 

 posium on radiobiology held at Oberlin College, June 14-18, 1950. It consisted 

 of a series of formal papers and formal discussions; these were published in 

 1953 ("Symposium on Radiobiology", J.J. Nickson, ed. , John Wiley and Sons, 

 New York, 1952). The second was a highly informal conference held in Highland 

 Park, Illinois, May 31 -June 2, 1951, the proceedings of which were not published. 

 This volume is an abridged transcript of the third conference. All three of these 

 conferences have brought together physicists, chemists and biologists to discuss 

 not their own special problems, but the interaction of radiation and biological 

 systems in its basic aspects. 



The current conference addressed itself to a question of cardinal impor- 

 tance in the understanding of radiobiology, namely, the nature of the mechan- 

 isms involved in the early stages of the interaction of radiation and biological 

 systems. There was no attempt to make the discussions, comprehensive; but 

 rather topics of current interest were discussed and analysed. 



The conference committee is deeply appreciative of the efforts of Dr. 

 Hymer L. Friedell, Chairman of the subcommittee on Radiobiology, of Dr. 

 L.F. Curtiss, Chairman of the Committee on Nuclear Science, and of Dr. R.C. 

 Gibbs, Chairman of the Division of Physical Sciences of the National Research 

 Council, who gave much advice and encouragement in the planning of the confer- 

 ence and in the publication of this report. The subcommittee also acknowledges 

 with appreciation the support of the conference by the Atomic Energy Commis- 

 sion and the Office of Naval Research through contracts with the National Acade- 

 my of Sciences. 



For the Committee 



Howard J. Curtis, Chairman 



John L. Magee 



Harvey M. Patt 



Cornelius A. Tobias 



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