How Has Nuclear Medicine Has Changed Society?

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How has nuclear medicine innovated science and society itself? Within the last century, science faced several discoveries that changed society and the scientific enterprise. However, the definitive scientific discovery of the twentieth century was the sustainable nuclear chain reaction by Enrico Fermi, which led to a revolution in nuclear physics. However, the foundations for the study of nuclear medicine formed at the end of the nineteenth century with the discovery of X-Rays. As research progressed in nuclear science with the use of radioisotopes to treat tumors, a transformation in society took place. Following the Second World War, the world suddenly was plunged into the Atomic Age. Understanding the potential that radiation and nuclear physics had in the medical field, society’s acceptance of the Atomic Age influenced the study of nuclear medicine. The influence of social factors on the study of nuclear medicine led to a transformation in the scientific enterprise. Influencing the study of medicine, several social aspects such as ethics, …show more content…

The advancements throughout the study of nuclear medicine provide an illustration to how science has transformed society. Defining social process in science, the researcher must understand that the term that describes the changes of how science has altered society. However, the social process in science also provides an explanation for society’s ability to change the scientific enterprise. Since the discovery of radioactivity, scientists and physicists grappled with the idea of the benefits for society that emerging field of science presented. Evolving in the early studies of nuclear medicine, the social factor involving the benefits that the study offered to society influenced the way that science and society view the use of nuclear elements in medical

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