Microdosimetry: reflections on Harald Rossi

This and twelve previous Symposia reflect the evolution of microdosimetry, a field of research that has determined major new developments in radiation research, radiation protection, and radiology during the past four decades. The concepts of microdosimetry and its techniques were developed almost single handedly by H. H. Rossi. This memorial lecture outlines some of the ideas and some of the work of Harald Rossi that led to microdosimetry. It describes its major impact on radiobiology and, especially, its impact on studies with fast neutrons and on risk assessment. Microdosimetry was primarily designed as a tool for the elucidation of basic mechanisms of radiation action, but it has found its most important applications in the dosimetric measurement techniques that have become indispensable in radiation protection and in the dosimetry for radiation therapy. The advances of molecular biology are now providing new possibilities for a quantitative application of microdosimetry to radiobiology along the lines that Harald Rossi defined.