William L. McLaughlin

William L. McLaughlin (born March 30, 1928 in Stony Point, Tennessee , † October 26, 2005 in Lexington , Virginia ) was an American physicist .

William McLaughlin studied at Hampden-Sidney College in Virginia and then at George Washington University (graduated in physics in 1963). From 1950 to 1951 he was a Rotary International Fellow at the University of Tübingen ; from 1954 to 1956 he was with the US Army Signal Corps on the islands of Eniwetok and Bikini to measure radiation at the locations of atomic bomb tests. From 1973 to 1991 he was a consultant at the Accelerator and Environmental Science Department of Risø DTU , Denmark; finally he was an employee of the Dosimetry Section of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna.

He was an internationally recognized specialist in the field of ionizing radiation dosimetry . Some of the systems based on chemical changes were developed by him and his collaborators; many of them are now established as commercial products worldwide. He was on numerous scientific missions around the world and contributed significantly to the training of countless young scientists. He was the editor of the journal Applied Radiation and Isotopes (formerly called the International Journal of Radiation Applications and Instrumentation. Part A, Applied Radiation and Isotopes ).

He performed most of his work at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), which was later renamed the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg , ML, USA.

In particular, he was one of the three 'instigators' for a manual for the IAEA Dosimetry for Food Irradiation (1977), in which the technical aspects of industrial irradiation of food, in particular the measurement of the dose and its distribution, were treated. (2nd edition with changed title 2002)

His friends also value his musical interests: he was an authority on bluegrass music and the music of the Appalachians ; he was a good guitar player and also wrote country songs; he often performed together with his two sons, who were professional musicians. After his scientific work he used to entertain his colleagues with his music.

Publications

• KH Chadwick, DAE Ehlermann and WL McLaughlin: Manual of Food Irradiation Dosimetry . Ed .: IAEA (=  Technical Reports Series No.178 ). Vienna 1977 (English).
• IAEA (Ed.): Dosimetry for Food Irradiation (=  Technical Reports Series No. 409 ). Vienna 2002, ISBN 92-0-115502-6 (English, iaea.org [PDF]).

Web links

• Jeremy Pearce: William L. McLaughlin Dies at 77; Helped Measure Radiation . In: New York Times . November 4, 2005 (English, nytimes.com ).