Herbert Mermagen

Herbert Mermagen noted x-ray pioneer and medical physicist was born on 19 April 1907 and died at the age of 73 in Rochester, New York on January 1981.

Atomic Energy Project

The Atomic Energy Project at the University of Rochester was a graduate teaching program. The project had three divisions. William Freer Bale headed the Radiology and Biophysics division that worked largely on radioactive materials—for example, radium, radon, plutonium, and polonium. James Newell Stannard was responsible for 2 sections, the Radiation Toxicology section and the Radioautography section. Harold Hodge headed the Pharmacology and Toxicology division that focused on Uranium including inhalation studies. Joe W. Howland, M.D. headed the clinically oriented Medical Services division. Mermagen worked in the Medical Physics section as a radiological physicist, known today as a health physicist.[1][2][3]

Health Physics Society

Served on the Health Physics Society, Board of Directors from 1955-1957.

In the midyear issue of Science the announcement came of the formation new national scientific organization for health physicists at the 3 day Health Physics Conference at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio on 14 June 1955.[4] The organization was temporarily named "Health Physics Society", and Karl Z. Morgan of the Health Physics Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory was elected interim president. Other interim officers were:

Frederick P. Cowan, Head, Health Physics Division Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, N.Y., vice president, and
Elda E. Anderson, director of the education and training department of the Health Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, secretary-treasurer.

First Board of Directors

Talks regarding the formation of a professional society had been ongoing for several years. The health physicists had decided to form an independent organization rather than attach to an existing group.
Directors of the Health Physics Society included:

Herbert Mermagen, University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.
Edgar Charles Barnes, manager of industrial hygiene, Westinghouse Atomic Power Division, Bettis Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
John W. 'Jack' Healy, General Electric Co., Hanford, Washington
William Taylor Ham, professor of biophysics, Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
C. Maurice Patterson, DuPont Atomic Energy Plant, Aiken, S.C.
G. W. C. Tait, Health Physics Branch, Atomic Energy Co. of Canada, Ltd., Chalk River, Ontario, Canada
Francis J. Bradley, superintendent of radiation safety at Ohio State University and organizer of the first Health Physics Society Conference
William E. Nolan, Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California
Walter Dunhan Claus, (annual salary $12,000), Division of Biology and Medicine, Biophysics Branch, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D.C.[5]
John E. Pickering, department of radiobiology, School of Aviation Medicine, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas

Personal life

Herbert Mermagen age 28 married Geraldine E. Julian age 26 in Rochester, New York. Marriage notice published in The Daily Record on 2 April 1936 and listed in the marriage record as occupation of x-ray.[6]

Select publications

Evaluation of a rem responding neutron detector for use around the University of Rochester's 20 MeV Emperor Tandem Van De Graaff Accelerator[7]

References

Blair, Henry A., (27 April 1950) Quarterly Technical Report, 1 January 1950 thru 31 March 1950, Health and Biology UR-116, The University of Rochester, Atomic Energy Project, pp. 111.
Rochester Alumni-Alumnae Review, September–October 1946, 30 University Personnel Return from Bikini (Operations Crossroads). Herbert Mermagen in photo. Vol. XXV, No. 1, p. 9.
Rochester Review, Lee D. Alderman, Editor, December/January 1962, Medical Center News. Vol. XXIV, No. 2, p. 17-18.
"News of Science". Science. 122 (15 July 1955): 112–117. 15 July 1955. doi:10.1126/science.122.3159.112. PMID 17751437.
Official Register of the United States, 1952. U.S. Civil Service Commission, Washington, D.C.
"Marriage notice". The Daily Record. 2 April 1936. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
Gifford, Bernard R., Mermagen, Herbert, and Maillie, H. David (1968). Evaluation of a rem responding neutron detector for use around the University of Rochester's 20 MeV Emperor Tandem Van De Graaff Accelerator. AEC Research and Development Report, Atomic Energy Project. Rochester, New York: University of Rochester. p. 25.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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[1] Blair, Henry A., (27 April 1950) Quarterly Technical Report, 1 January 1950 thru 31 March 1950, Health and Biology UR-116, The University of Rochester, Atomic Energy Project, pp. 111.

[2] Rochester Alumni-Alumnae Review, September–October 1946, 30 University Personnel Return from Bikini (Operations Crossroads). Herbert Mermagen in photo. Vol. XXV, No. 1, p. 9.

[3] Rochester Review, Lee D. Alderman, Editor, December/January 1962, Medical Center News. Vol. XXIV, No. 2, p. 17-18.

[4] "News of Science". Science. 122 (15 July 1955): 112–117. 15 July 1955. doi:10.1126/science.122.3159.112. PMID 17751437.

[5] Official Register of the United States, 1952. U.S. Civil Service Commission, Washington, D.C.

[The_Daily_Record-6] "Marriage notice". The Daily Record. 2 April 1936. Retrieved 19 July 2014.

[Evaluation_of_a_rem_responding_neutron_detector_for_use_around_the_University_of_Rochester's_20_MeV_Emperor_Tandem_Van_De_Graaff_Accelerator-7] Gifford, Bernard R., Mermagen, Herbert, and Maillie, H. David (1968). Evaluation of a rem responding neutron detector for use around the University of Rochester's 20 MeV Emperor Tandem Van De Graaff Accelerator. AEC Research and Development Report, Atomic Energy Project. Rochester, New York: University of Rochester. p. 25.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)