David Skeggs

David Skeggs, clinical oncologist and pioneer of modern radiation therapy, died on 22 December 2010, aged 82. His most important contribution to medicine was as inventor of computer controlled precision radiation therapy, which has been further developed by others to be the current international standard for safety and effectiveness.

In the 1970s radiation beams could be shaped to some extent to deliver treatment to blocks of cancer of a complex outline, but this lacked precision and it was often difficult to avoid excessive doses to normal tissues or inadequate doses …