Radiation Protection Dosimetry Advance Access originally published online on December 6, 2005
Radiation Protection Dosimetry 2005 117(4):343-345; doi:10.1093/rpd/nci368
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David Thomas, NPL Management Ltd. © Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
Editorial
Uncertainties in radiation measurements
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It is unlikely that many people have been attracted to a career in science by the prospect of undertaking uncertainty analyses, nevertheless, uncertainties are increasingly becoming a core issue in many areas including radiation dosimetry(1). Most scientists probably consider uncertainty analysis as a necessary evil. Few aspects of science give rise to more uncertainty, in the sense of being unsure what to do, than the estimation of the uncertainty on a measurement. One might paraphrase the old joke which starts with the question ‘are you indecisive?’ and rephrase the question as ‘do you have problems with uncertainties?’ The reply should of course be ‘I didn't used to think so, but now I'm not so sure!’
In science the basic premise underlying any measurement of a quantity is that it should provide a value for that quantity, i.e. a number, which must of course have units, and also an uncertainty.
david.thomas@npl.co.uk