ABSTRACT
In Sweden, physicians seeking permanent appointments in university hospitals are required to obtain a PhD equivalent qualification. The criteria for success are arguably amongst the toughest in the world. Since all neurosurgical departments are in university hospitals this requirement applies to all staff neurosurgeons. The Uppsala cyclotron research was designed to define the important parameters essential for the practice of radiosurgery to the brain. The aim was to use radiation to produce lesions in the brain parenchyma. It is unlikely that following their first manned flight, the Wright brothers could have conceived the commercial and military air forces, so important in modern life. From its careful and hesitant start in Stockholm in the late 1960s radiosurgery has spread to become a standard treatment round the world. Sparing normal tissue from radiation damage by focusing is a seductive technique which can now be applied to virtually any part of the body.
