SCINTILLATION COUNTING: EXTRAPOLATION INTO THE FUTURE*

Progress in scintillation counting is intimately related to advances in a variety of other disciplines such as photochemistry, photophysics, and instrumentation. And while there is steady progress in our understanding of luminescent phenomena, we are in the middle of a virtual explosion in the application of semi-conductor technology to detectors, counting systems, and data processing. The exponential growth of this technology has had, and will continue to have, a profound effect on the art of scintillation spectroscopy. This paper will review key events in technology that have had an impact on the development of scintillation science (solid and liquid) and will attempt to extrapolate future directions based on existing and projected capability in associated fields. Along the way, there have been occasional pitfalls and several false starts; these too will be discussed as a reminder that if you want the future to be different than the past, study the past