a method and apparatus for reading a glass dosimeter in which a fluorescent glass element after exposure to ionizing radiation is subjected to ultraviolet light pulses so as to generate fluorescence pulses which are sampled in different sampling periods for determination of the exposure dose of the glass element by utilizing a fluorescent pulse component in a particular wavelength range . preferably , concurrently an unexposed sample glass is subjected to the same uv light pulses and its fluorescence is subtracted from the exposure dose value in order in eliminate the base dose inherent to a particular glass for improved accuracy .