Richard Osborne to Receive Sievert Award

IRPA has selected Dr. Richard Osborne to receive the Sievert Award for his outstanding contributions in the field of radiation protection. The Award will be presented at the opening session of the 13th International IRPA Congress in Glasgow, Scotland next May. The Award is made in honor of Rolf M. Sievert, a pioneer in radiation physics and radiation protection. Following the Award presentation, Dr. Osborne will deliver the Sievert lecture.

Richard Osborne received his Ph.D. in biophysics from London University in 1962. In 1963 he joined Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) at the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) as a research officer in the Health Physics Branch. He was appointed Manager of the Environmental Research Branch at CRL in 1981. From 1991–1994 he had responsibility for all occupational safety and health protection programs in AECL Research, in addition to the responsibility for directing the research program in health sciences. From 1994 until he retired from AECL in 1998 he directed the AECL research programs in radiation biology, health physics and environmental research.

Dr. Osborne received the Elda E. Anderson Award of the Health Physics Society in 1975, served as a member of the Society's Board of Directors from 1976–1979, was the Society’s G. William Morgan Lecturer in 1992, the Robert S. Landauer Lecturer in 2004, and was elected a Fellow of the Society in 2005. He founded and was first President of the Canadian Radiation Protection Association in 1979 and was awarded a life membership in 2008. He was Vice-President of IRPA from 1992–1996.

Richard served on Committee 4 of the ICRP from 1980 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2001 when he was Vice-Chairman of that Committee. In 1989, he chaired the ICRP Task Group on Radon in Buildings and from 1997 to 2001 chaired the ICRP Working Party on controllable dose. Dr Osborne has worked with committees and advisory groups of the Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD) in Paris, the NCRP in the USA, the IAEA (including the Radiation Safety Standards Advisory Committee), and various Canadian Agencies, including the Advisory Committee on Radiological Protection of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. He was a member of the US National Research Council's Committee on Radiological Safety in the Marshall Islands. He was the Canadian Representative to UNSCEAR in 1996 and 1997, and in 1997 was the Task Leader for Tritium Safety and Environmental Effects for the IEA Implementing Agreement on Environmental, Safety and Economic Aspects of Fusion Power.