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Cobalt Blues

The Story of Leonard Grimmett, the Man Behind the First Cobalt-60 Unit in the United States

  • Book
  • © 2013

Overview

Authors:
  1. Peter R. Almond

    1. Houston, USA

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  • Leonard Grimmett's full story is now told for the first time
  • Covers the history of the development of the cobalt-60 radiotherapy treatment units
  • Describes the differences between the Oak Ridge graphite reactor and the Canadian Chalk River reactor and their capabilities for producing suitable cobalt-60 sources
  • Describes the various individuals involved and their interactions and how this has led to the development of one of the world's largest cancer centers and one of the world's largest medical physics programs
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
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  2. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1941–1949

    • Peter R. Almond
    Pages 1-8

  3. The Journey, January 29 to February 7, 1949

    • Peter R. Almond
    Pages 9-10

  4. Early Life and Education, London, 1903–1929

    • Peter R. Almond
    Pages 11-13

  5. Medical Physicist Part I, London, 1929–1944

    • Peter R. Almond
    Pages 15-27

  6. The Unknown Years and UNESCO, Paris, 1944–1948

    • Peter R. Almond
    Pages 29-33

  7. Replacing Radium, 1937–1949

    • Peter R. Almond
    Pages 35-40

  8. The Arrival, Houston, February 1949

    • Peter R. Almond
    Pages 41-50

  9. The Cobalt Unit, 1949–1954

    • Peter R. Almond
    Pages 51-72

  10. Medical Physicist Part II, Houston, 1949–1951

    • Peter R. Almond
    Pages 73-95

  11. Cobalt-60 and the Notebook

    • Peter R. Almond
    Pages 97-102

  12. Cobalt-60 in Perspective

    • Peter R. Almond
    Pages 103-119

  13. Erratum to: Cobalt Blues

    • Peter R. Almond
    Pages E1-E2

  14. Back Matter

    Pages 121-153
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Keywords

About this book

For the last half of the 20th century cobalt-60 units were the mainstay of radiation treatments for cancer. This book describes the development of the first cobalt -60 unit in the United States and the man behind it, Leonard Grimmett. Conceptually conceived before World War II it only became possible because of the development of nuclear reactors during the war. The initial idea was to replace the radium in the contemporary units of the time with cobalt-60, but with the realization that the reactors could produce much more cobalt-60 than originally thought the design of the cobalt-60 unit was drastically changed to take advantage that the application of the inverse square law to cancer radiation treatments would make.
Although Grimmett conceived of and published his ideas first, the Canadians built the first units because of the capability of their reactor to produce more suitable cobalt-60 sources.
The story tells how Grimmett and the other people involved came together at thetime that the U S Atomic Energy Agency was pushing the use of radioactivity in medicine. But Grimmett died suddenly before his unit could be built and very little information about him was known until recently when various documents have come to light, allowing the full story to be told.

Reviews

“Author Peter R. Almond, Ph. D., used Grimmett’s journals, notes and scientific documents to paint an intimate portrait of the man’s journey from England to Texas and the resolve Grimmett dedicated to the effort to see that his life’s work and the widespread application of radiation therapy would become a reality. … This is a good resource for those looking for a research reference and a nice retrospective for connoisseurs of medical history … .” (Matt Ragghianti, ASRT Scanner, February-March, 2016)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Houston, USA

    Peter R. Almond

About the author

Dr. Almond received his undergraduate honors degree in physics from Nottingham University and his training in medical physics from Bristol University. He moved to the United States in 1959 and earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in nuclear physics from Rice University in Houston. From 1964 to 1985 he worked at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where he served as the head of the Radiation Physics section and director of the Cyclotron Unit and Professor of Biophysics. He is now retired but teaches part-time and is writing the early history of the physics department at MDACC.

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