Basics of Medical Physics – Jirák Daniel (2018)

The textbook Basics of Medical Physics describes the fundamental physical relationships and methods that a physician is most likely to encounter in clinical or experimental medicine. Medical physics is specific in that it deals with the application of physical methods to living organisms. It is therefore an interdisciplinary field that combines physics and biological sciences. The book contains eight chapters: Structure of Matter; Molecular Biophysics; Thermodynamics; Biophysics of Electrical Phenomena and Effects; Acoustics and the Physical Principles of Hearing; Optics; The Physics of X-rays and Their Application in Medicine; Radioactivity and Ionizing Radiation. The text is supplemented with many images that will aid in the easier understanding of the issues at hand. The methods explained in the textbook are based on various physical principles. Some of them, such as the use of optical magnifying lenses or X-rays, have been known for over 100 years, while others have only recently found application due to technological advancements, such as magnetic resonance imaging or positron emission tomography. Thus, the reader should gain a comprehensive overview of the possibilities for utilizing various physical methods in...