Alfred WolfDied 17 Dec 1998 at age 75 (born 13 Feb 1923).Alfred Peter Wolf was an American nuclear and organic chemist. As a senior chemist at the U.S. Brookhaven National Laboratory, he made pioneering contributions over nearly 50 years in the field of organic radiochemistry. By the mid-1960's, his fundamental studies in the synthesis of small, radiolabeled compounds grew into a new interest in developing radiotracers labeled with short-lived positron emitting isotopes like carbon-11 so that the tracer method could be applied to visualize biochemical transformations in living systems. His discoveries led to advances in medical imaging, especially the development of positron emission tomography, or PET, a tool now used worldwide to diagnose disease and study the brain's inner workings. |
