SOME ASPECTS OF NUCLEAR PHYSICS OF POSSIBLE 

 INTEREST IN BIOLOGICAL WORK » 



By L. A. DuBridge 

 University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 



[With two plates] 



In selecting a title for this paper I have endeavored to choose one 

 which would create no illusions as to its purpose or content. It is 

 my purpose only to review (in a very elementary way) some of the 

 aspects of nuclear physics which give promise of providing useful tools 

 in biological research. I shall attempt to indicate a few of the types 

 of problems to which these tools may be applied. I am not reporting 

 any research which has been carried on in this field. I cannot claim 

 originality for any of the suggestions I am going to make concerning 

 biological problems, since they are all either more or less obvious or 

 else have been proposed by various workers interested in this field. 2 

 Note that these are only suggestions as to possible problems to 

 which these new tools may be applied, not predictions of any definite 

 results which may be obtained. It is as difficult to make predictions 

 in this field now as it would have been 35 years ago to predict the 

 biological applications of X-rays and radioactivity. 



Nevertheless, despite these cautious remarks, it is my own convic- 

 tion, inspired by the conviction of many others better able to judge, 

 that the discoveries of the last 5 years in nuclear physics are almost 

 certain to be of far reaching importance in biology. They will greatly 

 facilitate experimental work now going on in certain fields, and they 

 will doubtless uncover new problems not now suspected or not open 

 to attack by present experimental methods. Many feel that a new 

 era in biological technique is now at hand. If this be true no further 

 apologies need be offered for any attempt to acquaint biologists 

 with the nature of the new tools for research which they are likely 

 soon to be using. 



We will do well to begin the discussion by listing some of the most 

 important advances in nuclear physics in recent years. 



1 Presented at the Symposium on Biophysics, Philadelphia, Pa., November 4, 8, and 6, 1937. Reprinted 

 by permission from the Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 9, No. 3, March 1938. 



• I am particularly indebted to Prof. E. O. Lawrence, with whom these problems have been discussed In 

 some detail. 



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