Rutherford (unit) Rutherford (unit) The rutherford (symbol Rd) is a non-SI unit of radioactive decay. It is defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one million nuclei decay per second. It is therefore equivalent to one megabecquerel, and one becquerel equals one microrutherford. One rutherford is equivalent to 2.703 × 10 curie. The unit was introduced in 1946. It was named after British/New Zealand physicist and Nobel laureate Lord Ernest Rutherford (Nobel Prize in 1908), who was an early leader in the study of atomic nucleus disintegrations. After the becquerel was introduced in 1975 as the SI
Roentgen (unit) absorbed dose in a wide range of matter. When measuring absorbed dose in a human due to external exposure, the SI unit the gray, or the related non-SI rad are used. From these can be developed the dose equivalents to consider biological effects from differing radiation types and target materials. These are equivalent dose, and effective dose for which the SI unit sievert or the non-SI rem are used. The following table shows radiation quantities in SI and non-SI units: Roentgen (unit) The roentgen or röntgen () (symbol R) is a legacy unit of measurement for the exposure of X-rays