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The Evolution of Radiobiological Thought: Past History and Future Predictions

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Genetics, Evolution and Radiation

Abstract

This retrospective and prospective paper aims to trace the evolution of the major ideas in radiobiology from the earliest speculations about how the new rays worked through the discovery of radiation linked mutations and the realization that DNA could be a target, to the understanding of the relevance of indirect effects, non-targeted effects and the role of epigenetics. In the future we predict that population based effects will dominate at all hierarchical levels and that the micro- and macro environmental influences will dominate our approach to medical and environmental protection issues.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge continued support from the Canada Research Council Canada Research Chairs Programme, The Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the National CFIDS Foundation Inc (Chronic Fatigue and Immune Deficiency Syndrome).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    Carmel Mothersill & Colin Seymour

Authors
  1. Carmel Mothersill
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  2. Colin Seymour
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carmel Mothersill .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Moscow Region, Russia

    Victoria L. Korogodina

  2. Department of Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    Carmel E Mothersill

  3. Genetics and Biotechnology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Sergey G. Inge-Vechtomov

  4. Department of Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    Colin B. Seymour

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Mothersill, C., Seymour, C. (2016). The Evolution of Radiobiological Thought: Past History and Future Predictions. In: Korogodina, V., Mothersill, C., Inge-Vechtomov, S., Seymour, C. (eds) Genetics, Evolution and Radiation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48838-7_12

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