The Red Beam: Past, Present, and Future of Radiation Oncology in Russia.

The history of medicine and science in Russia is full of global “firsts,” and Russians are rightly proud of this scientific heritage. Even non-Russians with a working knowledge of scientific history can cite, for instance, that the periodic table of elements was conceived by Dmitri Mendeleev, the first virus was isolated by Dmitry Ivanovski, and the first extraterrestrial satellite placed in orbit and first manned space flight, respectively, were accomplished by teams of Soviet scientists and engineers. However, despite this auspicious history, scientific progress in Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union was not immune to the historical convulsions of the 20th century. Consequently, rather than a steady march of progress, the history of Russian science can better be described as a cycle that alternated between periods of great discovery and intervals of repression and backsliding. The specific disciplines of radiation biology and nuclear medicine were not exempt from the ebb and flow of this historical pattern. Within the Russian scientific tradition, radiation and its application in oncology have deep roots. Therapeutic radiation therapy in Russia dates back to 1903, when a