Szilard Endorsed Nuclear Medicine by Example

The excellent review of radionuclide therapy by Bert M. Coursey and Ravinder Nath (Physics Today, April 2000, page 25 ) reminded me of a story I heard while conferring with the late Jonas Salk on his controversial idea of using an HIV vaccine to treat AIDS.

Leo Szilard, who is best known for obtaining an early patent on the fission bomb (as a method of “producing new elements”), was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Standard treatment consisted of surgery to debulk the tumor along with the in situ use of bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG), a tuberculosis vaccine, to stimulate the immune system. Apparently, Szilard declined this treatment and instead accepted radiation therapy. The way I heard it, Szilard consulted with Salk, celebrated for developing the first polio vaccine, and Szilard subsequently had a radioactive sliver implanted in his bladder. The procedure apparently helped cure his cancer.

I have no way of knowing how much of this story is accurate. But it would be interesting if the inventor of the atomic bomb had made a personal choice that served to encourage the medical use of radioactive isotopes. More recently, the term “nuclear magnetic resonance” had to be changed to “magnetic resonance imaging” because the public tends to think of anything “nuclear” as inherently dangerous. At least Szilard would have had a better perspective on what is and isn’t dangerous.