André Cipriani

Cipriani, André Joseph

André Joseph Cipriani, biophysicist, avid sportsman, bon vivant (b at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad 2 Apr 1908; d at Deep River, Ont 23 Feb 1956). Educated in physics and medicine at McGill, he began his distinguished career with research in neurophysiology, cerebral blood flow, and acceleration and motion sickness at McGill and the Montreal Neurological Institute. Following biophysical medical research in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, he joined Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories (CRNL), where he and W.V. Mayneord surveyed isotopes before selecting cobalt-60 as the most promising for cancer treatment. Further studies laid a sound basis for future cobalt therapy dose measurements.

He pioneered the production of cobalt-60 for the first cobalt therapy machines used by H.E. Johns and others, and treatments began in Canada in fall 1951. His brilliant leadership in setting standards for radiation hazards control and safe reactor operation at CRNL led to outstanding success in both fields.