Frederick P. Cowan

Frederick P. Cowan, Ph.D, was a health physicist and head of the Instrumentation and Health Physics Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

F. P. Cowan grew up in the Boston, Massachusetts area. He attended Bowdoin College, then went on to Harvard University to complete his Ph.D.. After Harvard, Cowan went on to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to teach.

During World War II Dr. Cowan worked in radar countermeasures. This was followed by a stint at the Chrysler Corporation and finally he ended up at Brookhaven National Laboratory to lead the Health Physics Division.

Professional Service

Health Physics Society

• President

In the midyear issue of Science the announcement came of the formation of a new national scientific organization for health physicists at the 3 day Health Physics Conference at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio on 14 June 1955. The organization was temporarily named "Health Physics Society", and Karl Z. Morgan of the Health Physics Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory was elected interim president.^[1] Other interim officers were:

• Frederick P. Cowan, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, N.Y., vice president, and
• Elda E. Anderson, director of the education and training department of the Health Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, secretary-treasurer.

First Board of Directors

Talks regarding the formation of a professional society had been ongoing for several years. The health physicists had decided to form an independent organization rather than attach to an existing group.
Directors of the Health Physics Society included:

• Herbert Mermagen, University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.
• Edgar Charles Barnes, manager of industrial hygiene, Westinghouse Atomic Power Division, Bettis Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• John W. 'Jack' Healy, General Electric Co., Hanford, Washington
• William Taylor Ham, professor of biophysics, Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
• C. Maurice Patterson, DuPont Atomic Energy Plant, Aiken, S.C.
• G. W. C. Tait, Health Physics Branch, Atomic Energy Co. of Canada, Ltd., Chalk River, Ontario, Canada
• Francis J. Bradley, superintendent of radiation safety at Ohio State University and organizer of the first Health Physics Society Conference
• William E. Nolan, Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California
• Walter Dunhan Claus, (annual salary $12,000), Division of Biology and Medicine, Biophysics Branch, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D.C.^[2]
• John E. Pickering, department of radiobiology, School of Aviation Medicine, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas

American Board of Health Physics

• Chairman
• Chairman, Examination Panel

International Committee on Radiation Protection

• Committee III, External Exposure

Select Publications

• Health Physics and Medical Aspects of a Strontium 90 Inhalation Incident^[3]
• Health Physics Program for the Brookhaven Cosmotron^[4]
• Radiation Safety in a Research Laboratory^[5]
• P32 Spill of April 23, 1957^[6]
• Bioassay Data and Analysis Relating to the P32 Spill of April 23, 1957^[7]
• A Preliminary Report on Health Physics Problems at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron^[8]
• Personnel Dosimetry of Very-High Energy Radiations^[9]
• Some Dosimetry Problems of the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS)^[10]
• Health Physics Program for the Brookhaven National Laboratory Synchrotrons^[11]
• Health Physics Problems of High Energy Accelerators^[12]
• Everyday radiation^[13]

References

1. "News of Science, Health Physics Society". Science. 122: 112. 15 July 1955. doi:10.1126/science.122.3159.112.
2. Official Register of the United States, 1952. U.S. Civil Service Commission, Washington, D.C.
3. Cowan, F. P.; L. B. Farabee & R. A. Love (1952). "Health Physics and Medical Aspects of a Strontium 90 Inhalation Incident". American Journal of Roentgenology and Radium Therapy. 67 (5).
4. Cowan, Frederick P.; J.S. Handloser (November 1953). "Health physics program for the Brookhaven cosmotron". BNL Report (BNL-264 CT-43).
5. Cowan, F. P. (1957). "Radiation Safety in a Research Laboratory". BNL Inter-American Symposium on the Peaceful Application of Nuclear Energy. Upton, New York: Brookhaven National Laboratory.
6. Cowan, F. P. (7 June 1957). "P32 Spill of April 23, 1957". Memorandum to J. B. H. Kuper (Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York): 85–87.
7. Cowan, F. P.; J. Weiss (7 June 1957). "Bioassay Data and Analysis Relating to the P32 Spill of April 23, 1957". Memorandum to R. A. Love (Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York): 80–84.
8. Cowan, Frederick P. (1962). "A Preliminary Report On Health Physics Problems At The Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron". BNL Report (BNL-6001).
9. Cowan, Frederick P. (1–5 April 1963). "Personnel Dosimetry of Very-High Energy Radiations". Symposium On Personnel Dosimetry Techniques For External Radiation. Madrid, Spain.
10. Cowan, Frederick; Leigh F. Phillips & Robert J. King (1 July 1963). "Some Dosimetry Problems of the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS)". BNL Report (BNL 7151).
11. Cowan, Frederick P. (1965). "Health Physics Program For The Brookhaven National Laboratory Synchrotrons". BNL Report (BNL-9650; CONF-651109-5).
12. Cowan, F. P. (18 May 1966). "Health Physics Problems of High Energy Accelerators". BNL Report (BNL-50005).
13. Cowan, Frederick P. (2009). "Everyday radiation". Physics Today. 5 (10): 10–16. doi:10.1063/1.3067365.