Abstract
Answers to some of the most important questions that our world is facing out, will come from interdisciplinary efforts in medicine, energy and climate. These are involving contributions from fundamental research and in particular from nuclear physics and associated techniques. From the different types of radiation used in hospitals to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), nuclear physics and its associated technologies that is accelerators and superconducting magnets are omnipresent. The development of new radioisotope production techniques, therapy of certain cancers with ions and hadron therapy or high field MRI are among the subjects undergoing rapid development. Furthermore, archaeometry and many other societal applications are also benefited from the techniques of nuclear physics. My presentation in the 6th workshop of the Hellenic Institute of Nuclear Physics (HINP) was focused on the links between fundamental research and society and was partially inspired by an article I have published in 2020 on this subject [1]. In the last part of my presentation, I have brushed up the situation concerning the construction of low energy accelerator facilities worldwide. The construction of new accelerator installations is going through a flourishing period in particular in Europe with the construction of new accelerators dedicated to fundamental research in Nuclear Physics, to neutron production and to societal applications. This favourable climate could motivate the Hellenic nuclear physics community to design a new accelerator facility dedicated to fundamental research, neutron production and to the multiple applications of nuclear physics techniques to societal problems. Its construction could benefit from European funds and technical contributions from many European countries like France or Italy.
Highlights
The medical imaging science started out in the beginning of last century following the discovery of Xrays by Wilhelm Röntgen
The short-lived isotopes used in medicine require accelerators, in particular cyclotrons, nuclear reactors and possibly dedicated nuclear physics techniques for their production
The reaction mechanisms, the underlying theory and the most commonly used nuclear reaction codes for simulations and cross section predictions are important inputs in this field [2]. This is a good example of the application of nuclear physics techniques to other fields; codes developed for the needs of fundamental nuclear physics research are today applied to calculating the production of radioelements
Summary
The medical imaging science started out in the beginning of last century following the discovery of Xrays by Wilhelm Röntgen. Radiography exploits the absorption of the ionizing X radiation when crossing the human body: the denser the tissues and the higher its average atomic number, the stronger the absorption. Two weeks after his discovery Wilhelm Röntgen immobilized for some moments his wife Anna Bertha's hand in front of a photographic plate in the path of the rays. After development, he observed an image of the bones in the hand. He observed an image of the bones in the hand This was the first “Röntgenogram” ever taken. Wilhelm Röntgen captured an X-ray image of his wife’s finger - her wedding ring ‘floating’ around a white bone - and our vision changed forever
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