Thormod Henriksen - Norway

Thormod Henriksen - Norway

1940 – 1945: Second world war.

Important years in my life. I spent these years together with my mother and sister in occupied Norway. My father was a seaman and spent these years in England. We had almost no connection with him during these years. It was an important period for me with regard to my professional career. Almost all males in my family were seamen – a life they started usually when they were 15 years old. This was not possible during the war, and I started a new family tradition by going to high school. I was very interested in mathematics. I was in the middle of high school – 17 years old when the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima. This event became important for my interest in physics. Out of high school, I started at the University of Oslo with studies in mathematics, chemistry and physics.

1953: Starting on a master thesis.

When the time was ripe to go for a master degree in physics, I intended to do reactor physics at the very first research reactor in Norway. However, during my years as a student I had also got another experience. I got tuberculosis early in my study.

In 1947 we had no antibiotics at all, and most patients with lung tuberculosis were treated with so called pneumothorax. Air was filled in the cavity of the chest – and the lung was forced to collapse. The aim of the treatment was to give the lung an opportunity to rest. For some this was a success.

In order to control the air filling the patient was x-rayed both before and after the filling, and fluoroscopy was the method. I have been treated like this for a few years and consequently the number of x-ray examinations for me these years were more than 100.

I had been used to hospitals and x-radiation – and wanted to go into a field with a combination of physics and medicine.

In 1953 “The Norwegian Radium Hospital” installed a betatron that could give high voltage bremsstrahlung (up to 31 MeV). Up to that time all patients were treated with ordinary x-rays (only up to 250 KV). The other opportunity was radium. The hospital was founded on 4 gram radium obtained via Marie Curie in 1932. The radium was divided into a 3 gram source (we called it a radium cannon) and a number of needles used for brachytherapy. I considered this to be an opportunity to learn about radiation and radiation therapy. I was given a thesis project connected to the new betatron. The thesis concerned the absorption of 31 MeV radiation in tissue.

1955 – 1963: I was lucky enough to be offered to work at the cancer research institute connected to the hospital. My interestes were mainly concerned about the primary radiation events – the primary products formed and the rapid secondary reactions. I had a good contact with the group in genetic working with the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), and the group in biochemistry working with the mechanisms for the radioprotective sulfur compounds – a stimulating environment.

1963 – 1970: A stimulating period where I worked both in Oslo and in Berkeley. I was all together 3 years in Berkeley, connected to Donner Laboratory (John Lawrence was head). I carried out radiation experiments.

1970 –: The years as professor at the Institute of Physics, University of Oslo I applied and got the first position in biophysics in Norway – connected to Institute of Physics at the University of Oslo. From now on I had to build up with courses as well as doctoral thesis projects within biophysics. This was an interesting and fruitful job and the group in biophysics is now a group for “Biophysics and Medical Physics”.

The work is centered around the activity at the EPR-laboratory and the Cell-laboratory.

In my teaching I started some new courses like: 1. A course in molecular biophysics. Structure of biomolecules.

2. Radiation physics. Here we discussed damage to DNA.

3. A course in environmental physics. The course consisted of the fields, a).

Radiation and health, b). Ozone and UV radiation, c). Greenhouse effect and climate, d) Northern light.

The course in “Environmental physics” started in 1987 and is still going each spring semester with a large number of students. The course in environmental physics was and is a low level course that needed compendiums or books. This was a challenge that triggered my “popular science” writing. In this period I had two very bright students; Ellen Henriksen and Tove Svendby who weres very interested in science communication.

In the days of the Chernobyl accident in 1986 you really could see all the fear communicated by people, politicians and environments organizations without knowledge in radioactivity, dose measurements and/or radiobiology. The journalists completely ruled the field and created a radio-phobia that still exists. Since it was difficult to reach the audience through the newspapers (we tried a lot) I decided to write a small simple book about radioactivity, radiation, and health. I got good help from my colleagues, in particular my old teacher in nuclear physics Anders Storruste.

The latest edition of his book, "Radiation and Health" is on both websites: gonuclear.org and efn-usa.org. Use the keyword, "Henriksen" in the search box to find the book.