George de Hevesy

Nuclear medicine was founded by the Hungarian George de Hevesy (1885-1966), in part in collaboration with Niels Bohr at the University of Copenhagen in the period from 1920 onwards.

Nuclear medicine is the principle that one can see into the body by means of radioactive tracers, for example, with PET scans, and can thus diagnose a number of different diseases.

The origin of nuclear medicine

George de Hevesy is born to Hungarian-Jewish nobility in Budapest in 1885 and as a 25-year old, he…
The tracer technique is developed

George de Hevesy is invited to Copenhagen by Niels Bohr, and here in 1920 he enters into a…
The method is refined

George de Hevesy becomes a professor in Germany, but must leave the country in 1934 because of his…
Explosion of new knowledge

From 1935 onwards, the group’s knowledge about using radioactive tracers to identify biological and…
Nuclear medicine today

In 1943, George de Hevesy had to once again flee because of Nazism and he lived out the rest of his…

Liselotte Højgaard

Liselotte Højgaard is the author of the article and a clinical professor in the Department of Medicine and Technology within the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen and is also Clinical Physiology, Nuclear Medicine & PET at Rigshospitalet.

Marie Dyekjær Eriksen

Marie Dyekjær Eriksen is responsible for the editing and layout of the article. She has a MSc. Mag. in Danish literature and history and currently works with communication, dissemination, layout, graphics and illustrations.

Niels Bohr Institute

George de Hevesy

The origin of nuclear medicine

The tracer technique is developed

The method is refined

Explosion of new knowledge

Nuclear medicine today

Liselotte Højgaard

Marie Dyekjær Eriksen