Mother and sons

“Radiate from within, your best self comes from there…”

Kelsi Croster

A common pub test in medicine is whether you would be happy to have a therapy performed on a family member, especially mothers. Ernest Lawrence was a Californian Professor of physics. In 1931 he developed the first working cyclotron, later designing prototype linear accelerators. These devices produced the first controlled proton beams. Whilst key to the Manhattan Project, Ernest and his younger brother John, a doctor with an interest in oncology, were more interested is the use of the technology to treat malignancy. Their belief in the medical potential of radiation therapy and nuclear medicine was such that in 1937, they treated their mother who was terminally ill with Endometrial cancer. The device they used was an experimental modified diagnostic Xray machine, rigged to deliver higher doses of radiation. Mum lived another 18 years. John was the first to use proton beam therapy on pituitary tumours in 1955. #closetohome #letsmakelemonade