Application of Physics in Medicine

Medical physics is generally speaking the application of physics concepts, theories and methods to medicine. A medical physics department may be based in either a hospital or a university. Clinical medical physicists are often found in Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Radiation Oncology. However, areas of specialty are widely varied in scope and breadth e. g. , clinical physiology, neurophysiology (Finland), and audiology (Netherlands). In the case of research based university departments, the scope is even wider and may include anything from the study of biomolecular structure to microscopy and nanomedicine.

American Civil War

When Walt Whitman wrote that he believed the "real war" would never get into the books, this is the side he was talking about (Belferman 1996). Yet, it is important that we remember and recall the medical side of the conflict too, as horrible and terrifying as it was (Adams 1952). Long before doctors and people knew anything about bacteria and what caused disease was the time of Civil War medicine. Doctors during the Civil War (always referred to as "surgeons") were incredibly unprepared. Most surgeons had as little as two years of medical school because very few pursued further education.