January 7 marked the birthday of John H. Lawrence (January 7, 1904–September 7, 1991). John, born in Canton, South Dakota, is the slightly less famous Lawrence sibling (his brother Ernest won the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing the cyclotron), but his contributions to nuclear medicine were enormous. His work with the Radiation Laboratory and Donner Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, paved the way for modern nuclear diagnostic tools and treatments for cancer and other blood and hormone disorders. His lab also discovered that xenon gas makes a good anesthetic. John survived the sinking of the SS Athenia, a transatlantic passenger liner torpedoed by a German submarine in September 1939.
The University of South Dakota awarded John an honorary degree and dedicated a plaque to him at the Akeley-Lawrence Science Center in 2007.
About John Lawrence (Berkeley Lab)
John H. Lawrence, 87; Led in Radiation Research (New York Times)
Donner Laboratory: The Birthplace of Nuclear Medicine (The Journal of Nuclear Medicine)
John H. Lawrence (Atomic Heritage Foundation)
SoDak Does Science 