Gioacchino Failla
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Gioacchino Failla
| image = Gioacchino Failla (1891-1961).jpg
|caption = Failla in 1937
| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1891|7|19}}
| birth_place = Castelbuono Palermo, Sicily
| nationality = American
| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1961|12|15|1891|7|19}}
| death_place = Downers Grove near
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| field = Physics
Health Physics
Medical Physics
| workplaces = Memorial Hospital (New York City, New York)
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Argonne National Laboratory
| alma_mater = Columbia University
Sorbonne
| doctoral_advisor = Marie Curie
| doctoral_students =
| known_for = Biophysics
Radiobiology
| prizes = {{no wrap|Pulitzer Scholarship
Leonard Prize
Janeway Medal
Caldwell Medal
Gold Medal of the
Radiological Society of North America
Ewing Society Medal
American Cancer Society
Annual National Award
Judd Cancer Award}}
| religion =
}}
Gioacchino Failla (19 July 1891 – 15 December 1961) was an Italian-born American physicist. A pioneer in both biophysics and radiobiology, he was particularly noted for his work on the role of radiation as a cause of cancer and genetic mutation. He was born in Castelbuono in the Province of Palermo and emigrated with his family to the United States in 1906. After his retirement from Columbia University's Center for Radiological Research in 1960, he was appointed Senior Scientist Emeritus in the Radiological Physics Division of the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. He was killed in a car accident near the laboratory at the age of 70.Marinelli, L. M. (1962). [http://hpschapters.org/gnychps/Failla/RadiationResearch-Obituary-Failla.pdf "Gioacchino Failla (1891–1961)"]. Radiation Research, Vol. 16, pp. 619–622Columbia University Center for Radiological Research. [http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/crr/about-us/history/directors/failla "Gioacchino Failla"]
Professional service
- Committee on Radiation Units, Standardization and Protection
- International Commission on Radiation Protection, ICRP
- National Commission on Radiation Protection, NCRP
- National Defense Research Committee
- Radiological Instrument Panel of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project
- Advisory Committee on Isotope Distributions
- Advisory Committee on Biology and Medicine of the U.S. A.E.C. and the Genetics Committee
- National Academy of Sciences Committee on Biological Effects of Atomic Radiation
Honorary memberships
- British Institute of Radiology
- The James Ewing Society, American Society for the Control of Cancer, now known as the American Cancer Society
- Radiological Society of North America
Awards and honors
- Pulitzer Scholarship, awarded to graduates of grammar school that were examined for eligibility to receive one of 10 scholarships offered annually by Joseph Pulitzer. The subjects included in the written examination were grammar, dictation, reading, composition, American history, geography, and arithmetic.
- American Cancer Society Annual National Award
- Caldwell Medal of the American Roentgen Ray Society
- Leonard Prize of the American Roentgen Ray Society
- James Ewing Society Medal
- Gold Medal of the Radiological Society of North America
- 1939, Janeway Medal{{cite web|title=Janeway Lectures|url=http://www.americanradiumsociety.org/past-meetings/janeway-lectures/|website=American Radium Society|accessdate=8 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130427093840/http://www.americanradiumsociety.org/past-meetings/janeway-lectures/|archive-date=27 April 2013|url-status=dead}} of the American Radium Society, "Some Aspects of the Biological Action of Ionizing Radiation"
- Katherine Berkan Judd Cancer Award from MSKCC for cancer research for an investigator who has made major advances toward the control and cure of cancer.
- He received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Rochester.
=Failla Memorial Lecture=
- Failla Memorial Lecture presented annually by the Greater New York Chapter of the Health Physics Society and the Radiological Medical Physics Society
Patents
- Stopcock, 1925.Failla, Gioacchino. (14 April 1925). Stopcock. U.S. Patent No. 1,533,793. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
- Method and means for applying radium emanation, 1930.Failla, Gioacchino. (8 April 1930). Method and means for applying radium emanation. U.S. Patent No. 1,753,287. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
- Method and means for treatment by radiations, 1934.Rose, John Ernest & Gioacchino Failla. (17 April 1934). Method and means for treatment by radiations. U.S. Patent No. 1,954,868. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
- Means for effecting therapeutic implantations, 1935.Failla, Gioacchino. (30 July 1935). Means for effecting therapeutic implantations. U.S. Patent No. 2,009,393. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
- Methods and means for testing radiant energy, 1937.Failla, Gioacchino. (29 September 1937). Methods and means for testing radiant energy. U.S. Patent No. 2,094,318. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
- Testing method and apparatus, 1937.Failla, Gioacchino. (2 November 1937). Testing method and apparatus. U.S. Patent No. 2,097,760. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
- Radiation measuring device, 1953.Failla, Gioacchino. (17 November 1953). Radiation measuring device. U.S. Patent No. 2,659,826. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
- Radiation meter, 1954.Failla, Gioacchino. (6 July 1954). Radiation meter." U.S. Patent No. 2,683,222. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
- Radiation detection device, 1956.Failla, Gioacchino. (17 January 1956). Radiation detection device. U.S. Patent No. 2,731,568. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
- Method of using and manufacturing plastic equivalent to organic materials, 1961.Rose, John Ernest, Failla, Gioacchino, & Francis Rudolph Shonka. (24 October 1961). Method of using and manufacturing plastic equivalent to organic materials. U.S. Patent No. 3,005,794. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Filed: 8 August 1958.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Internet Archive author |sname=Gioacchino Failla}}
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Category:People from Castelbuono
Category:Italian emigrants to the United States
Category:American biophysicists
Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society
Category:20th-century American inventors
Category:Road incident deaths in Illinois