Biomedical and Life Physics Proceedings of the Second Gauss Symposiu

D. N. Ghista (Based on the Opening Address at the International Conference on Biomedical Physics & Mathematics of the Gauss Symposium, August 2, 1993 at Ludwig Maximillians Universitiit, Munchen, Germany) The traditional practice of Biomedical physics

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Biomedical and Life Physics

Dhanjoo N. Ghista (Ed.)

Biomedical and Life Physics Proceedings of the Second Gauss Symposium, 2-8th August 1993, Munich

Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme

All rights reserved © Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn VerJagsgeselIschaft mbH, BraunschweiglWiesbaden, 1996 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1996 Vieweg is a subsidiary company of Bertelsmann Professional Information.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright holder.

Printed on acid-free paper ISBN-13: 978-3-322-85019-5 001: 10.1007/978-3-322-85017-1

e-ISBN-13: 978-3-322-85017-1

Preface D. N. Ghista

(Based on the Opening Address at the International Conference on Biomedical Physics & Mathematics of the Gauss Symposium, August 2, 1993 at Ludwig Maximillians Universitiit, Munchen, Germany)

The traditional practice of Biomedical physics has now expanded to involve multiple aspects of medical practice: development of systems and technology in medical monitoring (e.g., PET visualization of brain receptors to

identify

neuronal

dysfunction),

diagnosis

(e.g.,

computer-aided

echocardiographic texture analysis to detect myocardial infarcts), organsupport

(e.g.,

peritoneal dialysis),

and therapeutic

function

(e.g.,

encapsulation of insulin-producing pancreatic islet cells for treatment of diabetes). However, is Biomedical Physics a relatively new field? Not really, although we may have opened up new vistas of it, as presented in this book. Let us recall some early and well-known physician-cum-biomedical physicists. Both physical and physiological scientists will know of Jean Poiseuille (1799-1869), physician and physiologist; he measured blood pressure with a mercury manometer while being a medical student in Paris, received his medical degree in 1928, and then went on to describe the law of viscous flow (applicable to arteriolar flow). Hermann Von Helmholtz 0821-1894), who was the first to measure the speed of a nerve impulse, was a physician and physiologist, physicist and mathematician; in 1858, he became professor of anatomy and physiology at University of Bonn, and in 1871 he was appointed to the Chair of physics at University of Berlin; he had a remarkable insight into the physics of biological systems, notably in physiological optics and acoustics, with his masterpiece book on 'Sensations of Tone' providing the physiological basis of the theory of music.

D. N. Ghista

VI

William Harvey (1578-1658); who is credited with the discovery of blood circulation, first studied medicine at Cambridge, then received his doctor-ofmedicine diploma at the University of Paduo, and thereafter worked as a physician at St. Bartholomem's & St. Thomas'; he reasoned that if the heart is pumping 5 litres of blood every minute, where can this come from and

where can it go, except go around I. However, it seems that the Indian sage and physician, Charaka, noted for his encyclopaedic works