Origin of Sievert
The unit “sievert” is named after Rolf Sievert, a Swedish researcher on radiological protection. He served as the chairman of the International X-ray and Radium Protection Committee (IXRPC), the predecessor of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), and participated in founding the ICRP1. Millisieverts (one millisievert = a thousandth of sievert) and microsieverts (one microsievert = a millionth of sievert) are mostly used to express radiation doses that people receive in their daily lives.
Becquerel (unit of radioactivity), curie (former unit of radioactivity) and gray (unit of absorbed dose) are all named after researchers who made significant contributions to the study of radiation.
- It is said that George Kaye at the National Physical Laboratory played a central role in founding the ICRP.
(Source: ICRP Publication 109, The History of ICRP and the Evolution of its Policies, ICRP, 2009)
- Included in this reference material on March 31, 2013
- Updated on March 31, 2015