Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Richard A. Meserve
- Preface
- 1 Establishment
- 2 Cruises and war
- 3 Expeditions
- 4 Measurements: magnetic and electric
- 5 The Fleming transition
- 6 The last cruise
- 7 The magnetic observatories and final land observations
- 8 The ionosphere
- 9 Collaboration and evaluation
- 10 The Tesla coil
- 11 The Van de Graaff accelerator
- 12 The nuclear force
- 13 Fission
- 14 Cosmic rays
- 15 The proximity fuze and the war effort
- 16 The Tuve transition
- 17 Postwar nuclear physics
- 18 The cyclotron
- 19 Biophysics
- 20 Explosion seismology
- 21 Isotope geology
- 22 Radio astronomy
- 23 Image tubes
- 24 Computers
- 25 Earthquake seismology
- 26 Strainmeters
- 27 The Bolton and Wetherill years
- 28 Astronomy
- 29 The solar system
- 30 Geochemistry
- 31 Island-arc volcanoes
- 32 Seismology revisited
- 33 Geochemistry and cosmochemistry
- 34 The Solomon transition
- 35 The support staff
- 36 Epilogue
- Notes
- Index
19 - Biophysics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Richard A. Meserve
- Preface
- 1 Establishment
- 2 Cruises and war
- 3 Expeditions
- 4 Measurements: magnetic and electric
- 5 The Fleming transition
- 6 The last cruise
- 7 The magnetic observatories and final land observations
- 8 The ionosphere
- 9 Collaboration and evaluation
- 10 The Tesla coil
- 11 The Van de Graaff accelerator
- 12 The nuclear force
- 13 Fission
- 14 Cosmic rays
- 15 The proximity fuze and the war effort
- 16 The Tuve transition
- 17 Postwar nuclear physics
- 18 The cyclotron
- 19 Biophysics
- 20 Explosion seismology
- 21 Isotope geology
- 22 Radio astronomy
- 23 Image tubes
- 24 Computers
- 25 Earthquake seismology
- 26 Strainmeters
- 27 The Bolton and Wetherill years
- 28 Astronomy
- 29 The solar system
- 30 Geochemistry
- 31 Island-arc volcanoes
- 32 Seismology revisited
- 33 Geochemistry and cosmochemistry
- 34 The Solomon transition
- 35 The support staff
- 36 Epilogue
- Notes
- Index
Summary
The wholehearted entrance of Abelson, Cowie and Roberts into biological research after the war was not as remarkable or surprising as it has sometimes been represented. It is true that they were experimental physicists very much at home with soldering iron and lathe rather than microscope and petri dish, but as previous chapters have indicated there had been a growing interest in approaching biological problems through the use of radioisotopes, and not a few collaborative experiments had been conducted. Indeed, in 1939 half of the time used by the new pressure-tank machine was devoted to visiting biologists. Cowie's original association as a Fellow of the National Cancer Institute was to help them with their experiments. More to the point, the cyclotron had been intended from the start to be a factory for isotopes. The building above it was designed for the conduct of relevant experiments that needed close access to the sources, necessary because it was thought many were expected to have lifetimes too short for distant transport.
To keep these physicists from straying too far from the paths of biological righteousness, many biologists and physicians visited to criticize, suggest and learn. Particularly important were Hugh H. Darby and Louis B. Flexner, Carnegie Research Associates, and William R. Duryee of the National Cancer Institute.
In addition to radiochemistry, another experimental technique, liquid chromatography, came into use at about the same time and proved just as valuable to the new group.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Centennial History of the Carnegie Institution of Washington , pp. 139 - 148Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005