Boag, John (Jack) Wilson

These papers are arranged in three sections as follows:

A. Scientific research and experimental notebooks

B. Historical research

C. Published and unpublished writings

Boag trained as an electrical engineer at the University of Glasgow and with the firm British Thomson-Houston. During the 1930s he undertook PhD research in Cambridge and Germany. From 1942 Boag worked at the newly-established MRC Radiotherapeutic Research Unit at Hammersmith Hospital where he was involved in designing and building a pioneering 2 MeV Van de Graaff electron accelerator. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, whilst at the hospital, he went on to pursue his interest in clinical radiotherapy and radiation dosimetry. From 1955, after a spell in the United States, Boag continued his career at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where he worked with Joseph Rotblat. In 1958 the British Empire Cancer Campaign established a radiobiology research unit at Mount Vernon Hospital and here Boag undertook research on radiation in cancer therapy. He was appointed Professor of Physics at the Institute of Cancer Research in 1964, continuing his research and developing a new interest in xeroradiography. Boag retired in 1976 but continued his engagement with scientific subjects, pursued some historical work on the history of x-rays and radiation dosimetry, and also became heavily involved with the Pugwash movement, campaigning against weapons of mass destruction.

Further biographical information may be found in obituaries that appeared in The Guardian, 26 Mar 2007 and The Times, 17 Jan 2007.