Frank Farmer OBE (18 September 1912 – 16 July 2004) was an English physicist, and a pioneer in the application of physics to medicine, particularly in relation to the practical aspects of cancer treatment by radiation.
[2] One of the instruments he invented while at Middlesex, the Farmer dosimeter, became a standard tool used in hospitals around the world to calibrate X-ray machines,[3][1] and is still produced commercially today.
[2][1] While at the RVI, Farmer and his team turned the facility into a renowned centre for research into medical applications of radio-isotope technology, providing services in these areas to the entire region of Northern England, which had previously had none.
[2] At the time of Frank Farmer's retirement in 1978, the department had branches in Teesside and Cumbria, as well as the three hospitals in Newcastle, and employed 70 scientific and technical staff.
[2] During his career he served on the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements and many other professional radiography and research bodies,[2] and authored a large number of scientific papers.