History of COMP and Medical Physics in Canada

Articles

• "The Atom Bomb that Saves Lives": The Role of Cobalt-60 in Cancer Treatment Around the World
  Jake Van Dyk, talk given as part of the History Symposium of the 2021 AAPM Annual Scientific Meeting
  
  
• Harold Elford Johns: Inventor, Researcher, Educator, Leader
  Jerry Battista, talk given as part of the History Symposium of the 2021 AAPM Annual Scientific Meeting
  
  
  
• J.R. Cunningham Remembrance Symposium Video
  
  

• Past Chairs of the Division of Biological and Medical Physics (DMBP) of the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP)

• A review of the development of cobalt-60 in Canada was published by Doug Cormack with Peter Munro in two issues of InterACTIONS in 1999:

  • Part 1: The Development of Kilocurie Sources

  • Part 2: The Saskatoon Story

  • Part 3: London, Ontario and the “Peacetime Bomb”(Click here to access the article, pages 64-69)
  • Part 4: The M.D. Anderson 60 Co Teletherapy Unit (Click here to access the article, pages 104-106)

• This History Paper on Cobalt-60 profiles the significant Canadian involvement and was published in Medical Physics International.
  
  
• The induction of Harold Johns into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 1998
  
  

• A nice summary of the history of Medical Physics in Canada including, the formation of COMP and the CCPM, was published by Ervin Podgorsak in Medical Physics International in August 2013.

• Develpment of Radiation Therapy Units 1951 to 1985

• The 1960 Gamow Lecture as reviewed by John C.F. MacDonald

• Minutes of the very first Canadian Association of Medical Physicists (CAMP) meeting

• Stumbling Across a Piece of History

• COMP Members know how to put on a good show!
• Jack Cunningham Memorial Article 

Photos

Other historical content is in the process of being developed. Stay tuned!

 Videos

John (Jack) R. Cunningham Interview, IOMP 50th Anniversary:  short 1:46 version, longer 3:44 version