Rolf Sievert
Rolf Maximilian Sievert (born May 6, 1896 in Stockholm ; † October 3, 1966 in Stockholm) was a Swedish physicist who has made a name for himself in the introduction and further development of radiation protection . The unit of measurement Sievert ( unit symbol Sv ) of the dose equivalent was named after him.
Life
Rolf Maximilian Sievert's grandfather emigrated from Germany and became a very successful manufacturer in Sweden. The company was then continued by father Max Sievert . He died in 1913, leaving his seventeen year old son with a considerable fortune.
After just passing school, Rolf Sievert first studied medicine and then electrical engineering , but soon broke off both studies. In 1915 he began studying astronomy , meteorology , mathematics and mechanics at the University of Uppsala , which he finished in 1919 with a first academic degree. Carl Wilhelm Oseen was one of his professors in Uppsala . His diploma thesis dealt with the radiation intensity of a radium preparation, a topic that determined his later research life. But first he had to join his father's company under pressure from the family.
After the First World War he studied physics at the Stockholm University and became an assistant at the Swedish Academy of Sciences . In 1920 Sievert learned (among others from the radiologist Gösta Forssell ) about the possibility of using X-rays and radium preparations for medical purposes, although the question of the correct dosage was still unresolved. At the age of 24 he got a job in the Radiumhemmet radiation clinic . He devoted himself to this area of research and developed various devices for measuring the radiation dose and methods for shielding radiation, including the Sievert chamber for measuring the intensity of X-rays and an apparatus for better dosage of radiation in cancer therapy .
After receiving his M.Sc. Sievert began an official collaboration with Forssell on Radiumhemmet . He had the status of a scientist there, but was not paid. He donated large sums to the Radiumhemmet to establish and equip a physics laboratory.
In 1932 he received his doctorate with a dissertation on radiation measurement at Uppsala University and was assistant professor ( lecturer ) at Stockholm University . In 1938 the Radiumhemmet became part of the Karolinska University Hospital and in 1941 Sievert became professor and director of the Institute for Radiation Physics there.
Rolf Sievert was also the founder of radiation protection research and campaigned for legislation on radiation protection. At the Second International Congress of Radiology, which took place in Stockholm in 1928, he played a central role. Among other things, the congress called the International Committee for Protection against X-rays and Radium , the predecessor of today's Radiation Protection Commission , to which Sievert belonged and of which he was later chairman (1956–1962). He strongly advocated the establishment of international limit values and was represented in several commissions in this regard and played a central role in the fact that in 1934 the X-ray was internationally accepted as a unit for the radiation dose and used in the first regulations to limit the radiation dose. From 1958 to 1960 Sievert was also chairman of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR).
Sievert headed the Radiophysical Institute in Stockholm for a total of 27 years before retiring in 1965. He has received numerous honors, including membership of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering , honorary membership of the British Institute of Radiology and the North Star Order .
In 1966 Sievert died of a pulmonary embolism two days after gastric cancer surgery .
In 1979 the ICRP established the Sv (Sievert) as the international unit for the "equivalent dose", which measures the biological effectiveness of radiation.
literature
- Masaru Sekiya, Michio Yamasaki: Rolf Maximilian Sievert (1896-1966): father of radiation protection . In: Radiological Physics and Technology . tape 9 , no. 1 , 2016, p. 1–5 , doi : 10.1007 / s12194-015-0330-5 (English).
Web links
- Erika Rindsjö: Rolf Sievert, the man and the unit. In: About: Medical Radiation Physics, Stockholm University. ki.se, August 21, 2013 (English, Swedish, biography with picture).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Barbara I. Tshisuaka: Forssell, Gösta. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 416.
- ↑ "A method for the measurement of X-rays, radium and ultra-radiation together with some investigations about the applicability of these in physics and medicine. With an appendix containing some formulas and tables for the calculation of the intensity distribution in gamma radiation sources"
- ^ FWS: Professor RM Sievert . In: Br. J. Radiol. tape 40 , p. 142 , doi : 10.1259 / 0007-1285-40-470-142 .
- ↑ Sveriges statskalender . 1955, p. 943 (Swedish, runeberg.org [accessed April 22, 2019]).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sievert, Rolf |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sievert, Rolf Maximilian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swedish physicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 6, 1896 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Stockholm |
| DATE OF DEATH | 3rd October 1966 |
| Place of death | Stockholm |