A dosimeter based on sensitized film is one kind of radiation dosimeter, but there are other different kinds, and film badges are becoming less common.

One widely known dosimeter is the direct read "pen style" electroscope dosimeter. Another "pen style" dosimeter is a miniature ionization chamber, but like the film badge dosimeter requires special equipment to read it later in a lab.

Probably the most commonly used type of dosimeter outside of emergency response is the TLD, or thermoluminescent dosimeter.

A dosimeter is an instrument that measures the amount of hazardous material to which something or someone has been cumulatively exposed. The most common is the radiation dosimeter, which measures a person's or object's exposure to radiation.

No, alpha particles will not be detected by dosimeter badges.

They are invented by NASA.

A pen dosimeter is a dosimeter the size and shape of a pen. In many cases they are radiation quartz fiber dosimeters made during the cold war for civil defense workers in the case of a nuclear attack. Of these the CD V-742 is the most common with over three million being produced.