Nuclear Medicine – What’s in a Name

By Rebecca Sajdak, BA, CNMT, RT(N)
2005-06 Technologist Section President

With the Central Chapter completing its 50th anniversary year, it is an appropriate time to recall the historical account of how the name, “Nuclear Medicine,” was conceived.

This following is an excerpt from the January, 1984 issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Vol.25, Number1, pp132-133. “ The designation that defines our specialty, “Nuclear Medicine” is the only one known to many and its origin known to only a few. The terminology that described the application of radioactive materials to diagnostic and therapeutic medicine evolved over a number of years and included many names.

Early on, the navy referred to it as “Atomic Medicine,” but the association with warfare made the name unacceptable. The Oak Ridge group coined the term “Isotope Medicine,” but, as R.R. Newell noted, all medicinals, diagnostic or therapeutic, are composed of isotopes. Robert Ball wished to call it “Radiology” since the only G-M tube available to him was in the radiology department. Sam Seidlin objected and proposed “Isotopology.”

The use of the term “radioisotopes” probably originated from Oak Ridge by way of Paul Aebersold, whose Isotope Division was the early source of radionuclides. He learned the terminology at Berkeley while working with E.O. Lawrence, who, in turn, suggested “radioisotopes” from Joliot-Curie”s article (1934).

Although “radioisotopes” became a common term at that time, one person disagreed, Jeff Holter. His dissension was supported by Gross’s objections that these “isotopes” were nuclear and not chemical and on Truman Kohman’s proposal that a “nuclide” is any atomic species characterized by its protons and neutrons. William Sullivan, a former student of Fajan’s, adopted the terms “nuclides” and “radionuclides” for his compilation of the Trilinear Chart of Nuclear Species. Although the term “radioisotopes” was used well into the 1960’s to describe the products, laboratories, and medical practice, the suggestion by Jeff Holter to use the term “Nuclear Medicine,” was adopted by the organizing members of the Society of Nuclear Medicine (the first annual meeting was held at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel, May 29-30, 1954), and has withstood the test of time, becoming the official designation for the medical application of radionuclides worldwide.”

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