Using Physics to Diagnose Cancer

Abstract

This discussion about diagnostic tests for cancer incorporates a powerful branch of Physics namely X-ray diffraction. Although this technique was used to solve the DNA structure using the X-ray diffraction pictures of Rosalind Franklin,1 and the structure of vitamin B12 by Dorothy Hodgkin2 and hosts of other medical related structures, it is poorly understood by the general medical profession and the community at large. To the nonphysicist the patterns appear to have no relation to the results produced. It might as well be written in Greek. The well-known quote of Poincaré, the famous French mathematician and scientist, in 1885 comes to mind: "Science is built up with facts as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house." In order therefore to build a true understanding of this powerful technique it is necessary to build a firm understanding of the basic facts about this technique, so that the final results will be clear to all, as they will be held up by a firm house of knowledge. So let us take up the first stone.