Radioactive medicineIn 1936, the first radioactive isotope medicine was administered, Berkeley, Cal. When Ernest Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron, recognized the possibilities for uses of nuclear isotopes in medicine, he persuaded his brother John to join the Berkeley Laboratory. John Lawrence started Donner Laboratory circa 1936. Treating a 28-yr-old woman with chronic leukemia, he administered a radioactive isotope of phosphorus-32 that had been artificially produced in a 37-in cyclotron. It was the first time that a radioactive isotope had been used in the treatment of a human disease as well as the start of a career-long contribution from John Lawrence. He became known as the father of nuclear medicine and his laboratory is considered the birthplace of this field. |
