The History of the Gamma Knife

Book excerpt: The History of the Gamma Knife presents the evolution of concepts and technology which ended in the production of the modern Gamma Knife. The story starts before the Second World War and links pioneers in Berkeley and Sweden. To the best of the author's belief it is the first detailed, factually accurate account of the development of this important therapeutic method. - The author has been involved in Gamma Knife surgery since the early days and has written 3 books and many papers on the topic - The author is fluent in Scandinavian languages and knows the original pioneers in the field and has consulted with them to ensure the story is accurate - The book is written in an informal easy to read style - The book fills a vacuum in the literature. There are many short accounts of a few pages but no hopefully definitive account of the story of the Gamma Knife. Also these short accounts all too often contain errors which hopefully are absent from the current text