Development of Cobalt-60 in Medical Treatment
After the close of the war, Johns was invited to work with Ertle Harrington at the University of Saskatchewan. It was there that he conducted his pioneering research in the use of cobalt-60 as a gamma ray source for the radiation therapy in cases of cancer.
Interest in nuclear technology exploded in post-war Canada. Nuclear research facilities constructed at the Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, Ontario near the end of the war were expanded and opened to civilian research projects. The first operational nuclear reactor outside the United States - the NRX - was located at Chalk River, and it provided a source of activated cobalt-60 for Johns's experiments.
Two groups - Johns's at the University of Saskatchewan, and another one in London, Ontario - designed and constructed external beam radiotherapy instruments using radioactive cobalt sources. The first treatment of a patient using the new source was carried out in London, Ontario, on 27 October 1951. In November 1951, the first Saskatoon patient, a 43-year-old mother of four, was treated for cervical cancer with a carefully calibrated dose of cobalt-60 radiation.
In early 1952, Maclean's magazine had dubbed the cobalt-source radiotherapy machine the cobalt bomb - a tongue-in-cheek tribute to this peaceful use of nuclear technology.
Johns's original treatment device was used in Saskatchewan until 1972.
Read more about this topic: Harold E. Johns
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