Primary paper: Radiological use of fast protons, Radiology 47, 487–491 (1946). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20274616/
Cited passage: rise of specific ionization near the end of the proton range and its proposed therapeutic use.
Robert R. Wilson Created 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-11-05
Robert R. Wilson proposed using fast protons for radiation therapy by exploiting their depth-dependent energy deposition. A proton loses kinetic energy along its path and has enhanced stopping near the end of its range, producing a Bragg peak. His 1946 paper connected this measured interaction with a way to concentrate irradiation at a chosen depth. The physical idea links particle accelerator design, stopping power and spatial control of deposited energy.[ref]
Physicist who proposed the use of fast protons for radiation therapy in 1946.[ref]
Figure 1.
Portrait of Robert R. Wilson
. Fermilab History and Archives, 12 September 1970; original photographer unidentified; crop by FMSky. Public domain (PD-USGov-DOE), as documented on the linked Commons file page. Source.