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Redditch People

the use of fluorescence spectroscopy in the collaborative study of carcinogenic agents in
coal-tar which led to the discovery of the carcinogenic activity of 3:4-benzpyrene”
(KennawayBr Med J1955). He was among the first to measure gamma radiation in
"Röentgen" units, (later “rads”, now “centigrays”). His precision measurements have
stood the test of time. He was recognised as the leading authority in the UK on “the
applications of radiation dosimetry to medical radiology and to the problems of radiation
hazards."

He was elected President of the BIR in 1942–1943, at the early age of 40 years. There
will not be many left among BIR members who can remember how critical a time this was
for the BIR. There was a real risk of breakdown between medical and non-medical
sections and it was under his guidance that this was avoided and a permanent and fruitful
relationship established, with alternating Presidents from the medical or physical sciences
and industrial engineering.

He was particularly interested in the history of science, and his lecture on the history of
Physics in Medicine was an entertaining story from Democritus through Galileo to the Next
Steps Today. Perhaps the secret of Val Mayneord's success as a scientific pioneer was that
he believed that the progress of the subject had to be seen as a continuum, from the past
through the present to the future.

His 24 years of retirement were happy in the companionship of Audrey, his wife. He was
able to indulge his literary interests but he also undertook major scientific responsibilities.
These included work for the World Health Organisation, with six months in India and Sri
Lanka, and the first UK chairmanship of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the
Effects of Atomic Radiation. A hospital ward is named after him at the Royal Marsden
Branch in Surrey.

Blast injuries to the chest. Source: Thompson BJR 1941; 14(168): 403-406

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