Back to the future: the history and development of the clinical linear accelerator.
@article{Thwaites2006BackTT, title={Back to the future: the history and development of the clinical linear accelerator.}, author={David Thwaites and J B Tuohy}, journal={Physics in medicine and biology}, year={2006}, volume={51 13}, pages={ R343-62 } }
The linear accelerator (linac) is the accepted workhorse in radiotherapy in 2006. The first medical linac treated its first patient, in London, in 1953, so the use of these machines in clinical practice has been almost co-existent with the lifetime of Physics in Medicine and Biology. This review is a personal selection of things the authors feel are interesting in the history, particularly the early history, and development of clinical linacs. A brief look into the future is also given. One…
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