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  • © 2015

Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology

  • Bridges the gap between an introductory physics course and the physics needed by researchers and practitioners in medical physics, biological physics, biomedical engineering and medicine
  • Includes a rich problem set to help students develop computational proficiency
  • Emphasizes the application of physics at the organ and organism level Covers diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy
  • Offers a web site devoted to the book at https://files.oakland.edu/users/roth/web/hobbie.htm, and an article relevant to the book every Friday at http://hobbieroth.blogspot.com/
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (18 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xx
  2. Mechanics

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 1-31
  3. Exponential Growth and Decay

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 33-51
  4. Systems of Many Particles

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 53-84
  5. Transport in an Infinite Medium

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 85-115
  6. Transport Through Neutral Membranes

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 117-139
  7. Impulses in Nerve and Muscle Cells

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 141-183
  8. The Exterior Potential and the Electrocardiogram

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 185-212
  9. Biomagnetism

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 213-238
  10. Electricity and Magnetism at the Cellular Level

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 239-268
  11. Feedback and Control

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 269-301
  12. The Method of Least Squares and Signal Analysis

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 303-343
  13. Images

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 345-362
  14. Sound and Ultrasound

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 363-379
  15. Atoms and Light

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 381-423
  16. Interaction of Photons and Charged Particles with Matter

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 425-459
  17. Medical Uses of X-Rays

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 461-502
  18. Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Medicine

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 503-533
  19. Magnetic Resonance Imaging

    • Russell K. Hobbie, Bradley J. Roth
    Pages 535-565
  20. Back Matter

    Pages 567-629

About this book

This classic text has been used in over 20 countries by advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in biophysics, physiology, medical physics, neuroscience, and biomedical engineering. It bridges the gap between an introductory physics course and the application of physics to the life and biomedical sciences. 

Extensively revised and updated, the fifth edition incorporates new developments at the interface between physics and biomedicine. New coverage includes cyclotrons, photodynamic therapy, color vision, x-ray crystallography, the electron microscope, cochlear implants, deep brain stimulation, nanomedicine, and other topics highlighted in the National Research Council report BIO2010. As with the previous edition, the first half of the text is primarily biological physics, emphasizing the use of ideas from physics to understand biology and physiology, and the second half is primarily medical physics, describing the use of physics in medicine for diagnosis (mainly imaging) and therapy. 


Prior courses in physics and in calculus are assumed. Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology is also ideal for self study and as a reference for workers in medical and biological research. Over 850 problems test and enhance the student's understanding and provide additional biological examples. A solutions manual is available to instructors. Each chapter has an extensive list of references.

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

    Russell K. Hobbie

  • Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Bradley J. Roth

About the authors

Russell K. Hobbie received a B. Physics from MIT and a PhD from Harvard University. He went to the University of Minnesota as a post-doc in 1960 and remained there for 38 years. Originally working in nuclear physics, he became interested in medical issues when he met Richard Reece, MD at a party. The two worked on computer-assisted interpretation of laboratory test results for several years.
Hoping to make the pre-med physics course more interesting, Prof. Hobbie, between 1971 and 1973, audited all the courses medical students take in their first two years at the University of Minnesota. He was amazed by the amount of physics he found in these courses that had seldom been discussed in the general physics course. A number of articles he wrote for the American Journal of Physics presaged the current content recommendations for pre-med and biological physics courses.
Prof. Hobbie also found a great discrepancy between the physics in papers in the biological researchliterature and the level of understanding of most biology majors or pre-med students who have taken a year of physics. It was clear that an intermediate level physics course would help these students. Prof. Hobbie developed such a course in 1973, which led to the publication of Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology in 1978.
Prof. Hobbie is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He is a Fellow of the American Association of Physics Teachers.


Bradley J. Roth was born in Clinton, Iowa in 1960, and was raised in Morrison, Illinois. He attended the University of Kansas, majoring in Physics (BS, 1982) and Vanderbilt University (MS, 1985; PhD, 1987). In graduate school, he worked in the Living State Physics Laboratory headed by John Wikswo. In 1988, Prof. Roth joined the Biomedical Engineering and Instrumentation Program at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
Prof. Roth's research at NIH centered on three themes: cardiac electrophysiology, magnetic stimulation of nerves, and analysis of the electroencephalogram. From 1995 to 1998, he was the Robert T. Lagemann Assistant Professor of Living State Physics at Vanderbilt. In 1998, he accepted his current position in the Department of Physics at Oakland University.
In 2006, Prof. Roth was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (Division of Biological Physics). The citation reads: "For his theoretical and numerical studies of bioelectric and biomagnetic phenomena, especially for his contributions to the bidomain model of the heart."

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access