,(y\OAt 



FOREWORD 



In December 1952 an informal discussion was held under the auspices of the 

 Faraday Society in Cambridge on the chemistry of biological after-effects 

 of ultraviolet and ionizing radiations. At this well-attended meeting it 

 became apparent that the study of radiobiology, in which many scientists 

 were now engaged, would be advanced by having informal and friendly 

 symposia so that the workers from different fields and disciplines engaged in 

 studying the efTects of ionizing radiation could meet and discuss. For this 

 purpose a small committee composed of Bacq, Bonet-Maury, Hevesy, 

 Hollaender and Mitchell was set up and the first such meeting was organized 

 in Aarhus (Denmark) in July 1953. The great success of this meeting 

 showed that the need existed and that the general scheme of informality 

 limited numbers, and emphasis on discussion was sound. The second 

 symposium on Radiobiology was held in Liege and these meetings are now 

 planned to take place annually. The great International Congress cannot 

 cater satisfactorily for radiobiology since this subject cuts right across the 

 boundaries of the different sciences and it is necessary that physicists, 

 chemists, biochemists, physiologists, cytologists, geneticists and radio- 

 therapists should look together at the problem involved. 



To ensure that the different members of the symposia can make their full 

 contribution we felt that it would be very useful to circulate preprints of the 

 paper or at least to provide detailed abstracts. This is particularly necessary 

 when scientists meet who research in different subjects, since the specialist 

 reading a paper can often not be followed easily by those not working in the 

 same field. Yet, it is the fusion of the different disciplines which these 

 symposia are intended to promote. At the Liege meeting papers or abstracts 

 were pre-circulated; the high level of the discussion and the large programme 

 covered show the value of the measure. 



In this volume we have collected the papers which were presented and the 

 discussion except in a few cases where authors had made arrangements for 

 publication elsewhere. A few participants were invited to contribute reviews 

 but the majority of the papers consist of new experimental work. We felt 

 that it was of the utmost importance that publication should be quick in this 

 rapidly growing field. The appearance of this volume four months after 

 the deadline for contributions was made possible only by the authors who 

 adhered strictly to the dates given them and above all by Messrs. Butterworth 

 who gave us every assistance and who dealt so expeditiously with the 

 production. 



Z. M. Bac^ 

 P. Alexander 

 Liege and London 

 December 1954 



