Professor Janusz Z. Beer – in memoriam Professor Janusz Z. Beer, Ph.D., D.Sc., former head of the Cellular Radiation Biology Laboratory in the Department of Radiobiology and Health Protection of the Institute of Nuclear Research passed away on October 17, 2013 at the age of 83. Originally a chemist, (chemistry studies at the Technical University of Warsaw and the University of Warsaw) he joined the Institute of Nuclear Research in 1959. He earned his Ph.D. (in mathematics and physics) in 1964, and his D.Sc. (in cell biology), in 1976, at the University of Warsaw, while involved in radiation biology research. His principal research interest and the subject of his D.Sc. dissertation was the examination of late post-irradiation phenomena in mammalian cell populations: heritable changes in proliferation induced by ionising radiation and intraclonal recovery in sublines isolated from X-irradiated L5178Y-S cell populations. These studies were ahead of the later discovered and much studied non-targeted effects of ionising radiation. Many aspects of this experimental work remained unexplained and anticipated recent discoveries. Later, his interests focused on the theoretical and practical aspects of photobiology. In 1978 he was invited to be a visiting scientist at the Bureau of Radiological Health, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), becoming branch chief 1978-1984, and senior scientist, 1984-2013 at the Center for Devices & Radiological Health, FDA, Rockville (MD) USA. His contacts and cooperation with the Institute in Warsaw continued during his tenure in the United States; he sent reagents, reprints and lab ware to the radiobiology laboratory during the very difficult years 1980-1990 and corrected the English texts and presentations of his former colleagues. He served as a member of the Nukleonika editorial board since 1999. Professor Beer’s scientific contributions earned him the Maria Skłodowska-Curie medal from the Polish Association of Radiation Research. His bibliography comprises 308 papers, abstracts and presentations, and it includes 71 peer-reviewed scientific papers cited in Pubmed. He contributed greatly to the development of radiation biology and photobiology. He will be remembered not only for his important contributions to science but also for his warm and outgoing personality and his sense of humour. He will be missed by all who knew him. Irena Szumiel