[en] This historical review covers portable health physics instruments at Hanford from an applications viewpoint. The review provides information on specific instruments and on the general kinds of facility work environments in which the instruments have been and are being used. It provides a short, modestly technical explanation of the types of nuclear radiations, the way radiation units are quantified, and the types of nuclear radiations, the way radiation units are quantified, and the types of detection media used in portable health physics instruments. This document does not, however, cover the history of the entire Hanford program that was required to develop and/or modify the subject instruments. 11 refs., 34 figs., 2 tabs