Role of the biomedical engineer in nuclear medicine

Throughout the short history of the development of radioactivity applied in the biomedical field, there have been many contributions made by engineers. With the advent of Nuclear Medicine as a well systematized specialty and its mushrooming in hospitals, the opportunities for biomedical engineers have increased. This article is written from the viewpoint of historic perspective in order to display the different aspects and situations where engineers, and particularly biomedical and clinical engineers, can participate in Nuclear Medicine. Finally, a more detailed survey is made of the activities of biomedical engineers in the nuclear medicine department.