ABSTRACT
I have tried to make clear throughout these meanderings that I had no desire to attempt a definitive history of medical physics. A preliminary attempt at this was well done for the 40th anniversary celebration of the HPA and any major expansion would require resources beyond my range. I repeat this statement here in case the intentions of this chapter are questioned. During these meanderings, I have observed, consciously or unconsciously, a whole range of changes in the development and acceptance of physics as a fully recognised member of that group of professions which must surround the practice of medicine. In 60 years or more there have been subtle changes whereby the physicist has become an integral part of the clinical team. In this matter, I suppose I should consider myself fortunate in being able to act as a fairly unbiased observer. Throughout most of my working life I have had the advantage of the professional status of a university teacher, whatever, at any particular time, my hospital relationship may have been. Even this situation was sometimes slightly ambiguous. Although there had been a number of professors of physics in the medical schools since the turn of the century, there were unspoken queries about their academic status in mainstream physics. Like it or not, physics applied to medicine had not quite made the grade academically. Nevertheless, from the security of even that somewhat doubting environment, it was possible to observe the rather erratic rise in the professional credibility of medical physics.
