ABSTRACT
The development of radiation biology began immediately after the discovery of the X-ray by Roentgen in 1895. Becquerel and Curie observed that certain substances (compounds of uranium, radium, and polonium) were naturally radioactive. Since then, the development of radiation biology has been linked with the advancement of nuclear physics and basic cell biology on the one hand and with the growing awareness of the hazards and usefulness of ionizing radiation on the other. Some of the major discoveries in nuclear physics 16 , 17 , 24 and biology 5 , 8 , 20 , 23 , 28–31 that have influenced the growth of radiation biology are briefly described.
