Gioacchino Failla

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.^[1][2]

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 Science Committee on Biological Effects of Atomic Radiation

Honorary Membership

• 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^[3] 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

Publications

• Failla, G. (1920), “Radium technique at the Memorial Hospital”, Arch. Radiol. Electrotherapy (25): 3. Reprinted in Radium 16.
• Failla, G. (1921a), "The physical basis of radium therapy", Arch. Dermatol. Syphilol. (3): 33.
• Failla, G. (1921b), "Dosage in radium therapy", Am. J. Roentgenol. (8): 674.
• Failla, G. (1921c), "The absorption of radium radiations by tissues", Am. J. Roentgenol. (8): 215.
• Kunz, G.F., and Failla, G. (1921), "Radium - The supreme marvel of nature's storehouse", Nat. History (2): 520.
• Sugiura, K., and Failla, G. (1922), "Some effects of radium radiations on white mice", J. Gen. Physiol." (4): 423.
• Failla, G., Quimby, Edith H., and Dean, A.L. (1922), "Some problems of radiation therapy", Am. J. Roentgenol. (9): 479.
• Failla, G. (1923), "Ionization measurements", Am. J. Roentgenol. (10): 48.
• Failla, G., and Quimby, Edith H. (1923), "The economics of dosimetry in radiotherapy", Am. J. Roentgenol. (10): 944.
• Failla, G. (1924), "A brief analysis of some important factors in the biological action of radiation", Am. J. Roentgenol. (12): 454.
• Failla, G. (1925), "An objective method for the administration of X-rays", Acta Radiol. (4): 85.
• Failla, G., Adair, F., Quimby, Edith H., Sugiura, K., Arnell, J.C., and Goldsmith, N.W. (1926), "Dosage study relative to the therapeutic use of unfiltered radon", Am. J. Roentgenol. (15): 1.
• Failla, G. (1926a), "The question of a biological unit of radiation", Acta Radiol. (6): 413.
• Failla, G. (1926b), "The development of filtered radon implants", Am. J. Roentgenol. (16): 507.
• Failla, G. (1927), "Radium at the Memorial Hospital", Sci. Monthly (25): 568.
• Failla, G. (1928), "Design of a well-protected radium 'Pack'", Am. J. Roentgenol. (20): 128.
• Failla, G. (1929a), "Criteria for the design of a standard ionization chamber", Am. J. Roentgenol. (21): 47.
• Failla, G. (1929b), "The measurement of X-ray dosage by physical means", Radiology (13): 293.
• Failla, G. (1930a), "Filtration in radium therapy", Radiol. Rev. and Chicago Med. Recorder (March 1930).
• Failla, G. (1930b), "A new instrument for measuring X-radiation", Radiology (15): 437.
• Failla, G., and Henshaw, P.S. (1931), "The relative biological effectiveness of X-rays and gamma rays", Radiology (17): 1.
• Schlundt, H., and Failla, G. (1931), "The detection and estimation of radium in living persons. III. The normal elimination of radium", Am. J. Roentgenol. (26): 265.
• Failla, G. (1932), "Radium protection", Radiology (19): 12.
• Failla, G., Quimby, Edith H., Marinelli, L.D., and Rose, J.E. (1933), "The relative effects produced by 200 kV roentgen rays, 700 kV roentgen rays, and gamma rays. I. The distribution of radiation in a water phantom", Am. J. Roentgenol. (29): 293.
• Failla, G. (1933), "The relative effects produced by 200 kV roentgen rays, 700 kV roentgen rays and gamma rays. VII. Correlation of experimental results", Am. J. Roentgenol. (29): 352.
• Failla, G. (1934a), "Radiotherapy at 700 kV", Fourth Intern. Congr. of Radiol. (2).
• Failla, G. (1934b), "Identical physical measurements of the dose in X-ray and radium treatment", Fourth Intern. Congr. of Radiol. (2).
• Failla, G. (1936a), "Some physical characteristics of 400 kV, Roentgen rays Fortschr. Gebiete Rontgenstrahlen (53): 596.
• Failla, G. (1936b), "Versuch einer neuartigen Therapie mit Uberharten Rontgenstraheln", Strahlentherapie (56): 594.
• Failla, G., Twombly, G., and Marinelli, L. (1937), "A method for decreasing the ionization in the skin applicable to supervoltage X-ray therapy", Radiology (28): 693.
• Failla, G. (1937a), "A theory of the biological action of ionizing radiations", Publ. Am. Assoc. Advance. Sci. (4): 202.
• Failla, G., and Marinelli, L.D. (1937), "The measurement of the ionization produced in air by gamma rays", Am. J. Roentgenol. Radium Therapy (38): 312.
• Failla, G. (1937b), "The measurement of tissue dose in terms of the same unit for all ionizing radiations", Radiology (29): 202.
• Failla, G., et al. (1937), "Recommendations of the International Committee for Radiological Units", Radiology (29): 634.
• Failla, G. (1940), "Some aspects of the biological action of ionizing radiations. Janeway Lecture, 1939", Am. J. Roentgenol. (44): 649.
• White, T.N., Marinelli, L.D., and Failla, G. (1940), "A measurement of gamma radiation in roentgens", Am. J. Roentgenol. (44): 889.
• Failla, G. (1941), "Biological effects of ionizing radiations", J. Appl. Phys. (12): 279.
• Evans, T.C., Slaughter, J.C., Little, E.P., and Failla, G. (1942), "Influence of the medium on radiation injury of sperm", Radiology (39): 663.
• Failla, G., "Ionization and its bearing on the biological effects of radiation", In Biological Effects of Radiation by B. M. Duggar.
• Failla, G. (1945), "Protection against high energy roentgen rays. Caldwell Lecture 1945", Am. J. Roentgenol. Radium Therapy (54): 553.
• Failla, G. (1946), "Biophysical factors in X-ray use", Ind. Standardization (17): 112.
• Failla, G. (1947), "Nuclear physics and medical research", Lancet (67): 68.
• Failla, G. (1949a), "Personnel protection in the use of radioactive isotopes", J. Clin. Invest. (28): 1281.
• Failla, G. (1949b), "Dosage measurement of ionizing radiations", Conference on Electronic Inst. in Nucleonics and Med. N. Y. (Oct. 31-Nov. 2): 1.
• Failla, G., and Rossi, H.H. (1950), "Dosimetry of ionizing particles", Am. J. Roentgenol. Radium Therapy (64): 489.
• Rossi, H.H., and Failla, G. (1950), "Neutrons: Dosimetry", Medical Physics (2): 603.
• Failla, G. (1951), "Radiological units", Am. J. Roentgenol. Radium Therapy (65): 477.
• Failla, G. (1952), "Irradiation through grids", Radiology (58): 424.
• Ellis, R.H., Jr., Rossi, H.H., and Failla, G. (1952), "Stopping power of polystyrene and acetylene for alpha-particles", Phys. Rev. (86): 562.
• Failla, G. (1954), "The influence of the medium on the radiosensitivity of a cell", Acta Radiol. Suppl. (116): 94.
• Ellis, R.H., Jr., Rossi, H.H., and Failla, G. (1955), "Stopping power of water films", Phys. Rev. (97): 1043.
• Failla, G. (1955), "Address of the retiring President", Radiation Research (2): 192.
• Gross, W., Wingate, C., and Failla, G. (1956), "Average energy expended in producing ion pairs - S-35 absolute value for air", Radiology (66): 101.
• Wingate, C., and Failla, G. (1956), "Extrapolation chamber measurements with Ni-63 beta rays", Radiology (66): 270.
• Rossi, H.H., and Failla, G. (1956), "Tissue-equivalent ionization chambers", Nucleonics (14): 32.
• Failla, G. (1956a), "The flux of secondary ionizing particles in a uniformly irradiated homogeneous medium of varying density: Application to walled ionization chambers", Radiation Research (4): 102.
• Failla, G. (1956b), "The distribution of energy imparted to a homogeneous medium nonuniformly irradiated", Radiation Research (5): 205.
• Failla, G. (1956c), "Dosimetry of ionizing radiation", Progress in Nuclear Energy Series VII, Medical Sciences, Vol. 1, Pergamon Press.
• Wingate, C., Gross, W., and Failla, G. (1957), "Collection of ions produced by alpha particles in air", Phys. Rev. (105): 929.
• Gross, W., Wingate, C., and Failla, G. (1957a), "Average energy lost by S-35 beta rays per ion pair produced in air", Radiation Research (7): 570.
• Failla, G. (1957), "Considerations bearing on permissible accumulated radiation doses for occupational exposure", Radiology (69): 23.
• Gross, W., Wingate, C., and Failla, G. (1957b), "Determination of disintegration rate for gamma-emitting isotopes", Radiology (69): 699.
• Failla, G., and McClement, P. (1957), "The shortening of life by chronic whole-body irradiation", Am. J. Roentgenol. (78): 946.
• Failla, G. (1958), "The aging process and cancerogenesis", Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. (71): 1124.
• Wingate, C., Gross, W., and Failla, G. (1958), "Relative beta-ray energy loss per ion pair produced in water vapor and in air", Radiation Research (8): 411.
• Gross, W., Catolla-Cavalcanti, R., Bell, W.B., and Failla, G. (1958), "Experimental determination of the absorbed dose in tissue from X-rays", Radiation Research (9): 124.
• Failla, G., Chairman, Advisory Committee on Biology and Medicine, AEC (1958), "Statement on Radioactive Fallout", Am. Scientist (46): 138.
• Failla, P., McClement, and Failla, G. (1960), "Measurement of the dose in small tissue volumes surrounding 'point' sources of radioisotopes", Radiation Research (13): 1.
• Failla, G. (1960), "The aging process and somatic mutations", In The Biology of Aging Am. Inst. Biol. Sciences Washington D. C.
• Failla, G. and McClement Failla, P. (1960), "Long term effects of radiation", In Ninth International Congress of Radiology, Munich 1959. (Vol. II): 1195. Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany.

References