Fifth anniversary of the symbol of the Society of Nuclear Medicine

W G Myers
1978 Journal of Nuclear Medicine  
We designed the upper part of the symbol to represent carbon, the "organic" element that is central to biochemistry and which constitutes about 18% of the human body by weight and almost 10% of all the atoms in the body. Carbon has two K electrons and four L electrons, as depicted here in Bohr's orbital atomic model. Carbon was chosen also for simplicity, since it has the lowest atomic number of any of our biochemical/ physiological elements which can be "represented" by a ±y-nuclide. Carbon-11
more » ... can be detected in the intact patient by means of the two 511-keV ±7-rays, which are emitted at 180° to each other, and which almost always accompany the "annihilation" of positron-electron pairs. Thus, it lends itself to the "insideout" methodology originated by Herrman L. Blumgart and his co-workers a half-century ago. Carbon-11 now is coming to be used frequently as
pmid:660272 fatcat:b3susw45v5fznmnx4i3nj6kbg4