Lea published his influential book, The Actions of Radiation of Living Cells, in 1946, the year before he died in an accident.[4][5][3] Lea was a major contributor to the
target theory of cell death caused by
ionising radiation.[6][7]
For a period in 1943 he was appointed part-time Honorary Advisory Physicist to Addenbrooke's Hospital and was thus the first hospital physicist at Addenbrooke's. In 1946, not long before his death, was appointed Reader in Radiobiology in the University Department of Radiotherapeutics
A memorial lecture in his name has been given biennially since 1948.[8] He was a close friend of fellow radiobiology pioneer,
Louis Harold Gray.[9]
References
^Hall, E J (1 May 1976). "Radiation and the single cell: the physicist's contribution to radiobiology". Physics in Medicine and Biology. 21 (3): 347–359.
doi:
10.1088/0031-9155/21/3/001.
PMID819945.
S2CID30411960.
^Steel, G Gordon (1 February 1996). "From targets to genes: a brief history of radiosensitivity". Physics in Medicine and Biology. 41 (2): 205–222.
doi:
10.1088/0031-9155/41/2/001.
PMID8746105.