Part I:
• An introduction about the historical developments of accelerators and their use for medical applications: tumour treatment from X-rays to particle therapy
• Description of the underlying physics and biology of particle therapy; implications on the requirements for the needed beam parameters (energy, intensity, focus, beam structure)
• Accelerator technology used for particle therapy so far: cyclotrons and synchrotrons
• Particle therapy facilities worldwide: an overview and some examples in detail:
PSI/Switzerland, Loma Linda/USA, HIMAC/Japan, HIT/Heidelberg, CNAO/Italy
