REVIEW ARTICLE Application of Physics in Medicine

The application of physics principles to medical practice has made an outstanding contribution in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Further amalgamation of research, application, cooperation and understan-ding of physics and medicine will enhance new perspectives on the benefits of ionizing and nonionizing radia-tions for medical diagnosis and therapy. Jn this paper, a general survey has been made of physics applications in medicine. Key words: Medical imaging, NMR, MRS, radioisotope. The application of physics principles to medical practice bas made an astounding contribution in the prognosis and treatment of cancer. The discovery of x-rays by Roentgen 1 in 1895 opened a new vista of medical imaging and was awarded the Nobel prize in physics in 1901. The discovery of artificial radioac-tivity by Joliot and Trene Curie1 in 1934 Jed John Lawrence two years later to inject a radioisotope (Phosphorus-32) into a patient to treat leukemia. In the 1950s, nuclear physicists Rosalyn Yalow and Solomon Berson1 developed the radioimmunoassay method of insulin, based on the principle of com-petitive binding by antibodies of natural and labeled hormones. This process is used by physiologists to visualize human organ functions. Rosalyn Yalow • in 1977 received the Nobel Prize in medicine. Physicists Cormack5 and Hounsfield6 earned the Nobel prize in medicine in 1979 for their independent and unique contributions to the invention of x-ray computed tomography (XCT). Walter Gilbert, ~ a theoretical physicist who did his doctorate unde