Radiation Physics and Chemistry 68 (2003) 945–946

ARTICLE IN PRESS

0969-806X/$ - s

doi:10.1016/j.ra

Editorial

William L. McLaughlin, a tribute

Bill McLaughlin turned 75 on March 29, 2003. The

event was celebrated at a symposium at NIST in April

where approximately 50 friends and colleagues from

around the world gave their personal view on the

significance of Bill’s contribution to the field of

dosimetry for radiation processing. That has been—

and still is—Bill’s main research field, but scanning

through his impressive list of publications reveals

significant contributions in radiation therapy, radiation

physics, and in particular in radiation chemistry. I

searched under ‘‘McLaughlin, W.L.’’ at the Web of

Science, and found an—incomplete—list of approxi-

mately 250 titles, many with Bill as first author, but few

with him as the only author. Bill has worked with many

researchers, and he would always ensure that his co-

workers appeared as co-authors. Several institutes and

firms in USA has benefited from collaboration with Bill,

and in particular many researchers abroad has taken

advantage of frequent visits by one of the most

knowledgeable persons in the field of radiation proces-

sing dosimetry, and by their own visit to NIST in

Gaithersburg, MD. I have myself had the good fortune

to be one of those persons, and I enjoyed Bill’s frequent

visits to Ris^ National Laboratory, and I also had

opportunity to work at NIST for extended periods

of time.

Bill has been employed at National Bureau of

Standards (NBS) since 1951. He was with the US

Army in the 1950s and served in the Pacific during

atomic bomb testings. That was where he developed

his sense for dosimetry that proved so very useful at

his work at NBS, which moved from downtown

Washington, DC to Gaithersburg, MD, and later it

turned into National Institute of Standards and

Technology (NIST).

One of Bill’s most significant contributions to

dosimetry has been the development of radiochromic

film dosimeters. The first paper on this subject was

with Lyman Chalkey (McLaughlin and Chalkey, 1965),

and Bill has described how the first experiments were

carried out in Chalkey’s kitchen. Bill is a master

of tall stories, but all with enough element of truth in

them to make the listener uncertain. The story just might

be true.

ee front matter r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserv

dphyschem.2003.10.002

Bill can rightfully call himself the father of radio-

chromic dye dosimetry. The radiochromic dosimeters

grew into an extended family of dosimeters involving

films, waveguides and solutions, all based on substituted

triphenylmethane. Upon irradiation these otherwise

colourless chemicals become coloured, the colour

depending on the specific substitution and polymer base

material. The most successful dosimeters were the thin

films that have been developed into commercial pro-

ducts and these dosimeters are today used around the

world.

During his career Bill has received many honours and

awards, and I do not know which one he values the

most. The three R&D 100 awards? The IMRP research

and science award? Or maybe it is the Rotary Interna-

tional Fellowship that allowed Bill to spend a year in

1950–51 in T .ubingen. At any rate, that fellowship has

given rise to more tall stories than any of the other

awards.

Several organizations have drawn on Bill’s expertise

on radiochromic dosimetry and on dosimetry in general.

He has been active in ASTM, ICRU, AAPM, ANSI,

NCRP, and in particular as a consultant to the IAEA.

The latter has lead to many visits to Vienna, to expert

missions and to the receipt of many researchers from the

third world, who came to gain knowledge and inspira-

tion from one of the most resourceful and friendly

teachers that I know.

This issue of Radiation Physics and Chemistry is

dedicated to Bill McLaughlin. The articles are on

some of the issues that Bill has worked on during his

many years at NBS/NIST, and as the reader will

notice, Bill is the co-author of some of the articles. This

may seem odd in this particular issue of the journal,

but the fact is that it is not possible to write 11 articles

in the field of dosimetry for radiation processing

without having Bill as a co-author on at least some of

them.

Bill was an editor at Radiation Physics and Chemistry

for many years, and he has worn out many red pens in

the process of improving the language and content of the

papers. He will no doubt also correct the language of

this tribute to his long career. I wish him many more

good years to come.

ed.

ARTICLE IN PRESSEditorial / Radiation Physics and Chemistry 68 (2003) 945–946946

References

McLaughlin, W.L., Chalkey, L., 1965. Low atomic number dye

systems for ionizing radiation measurement. Photogr. Sci.

Eng. 9, 195.

Risø National Laboratory, High Dose Reference

Arne Miller

Laboratory, P.O. Box No. 49, Bldg 201,

DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark

E-mail address: arne.miller@risoe.dk