Refinements and advances in equipment design since 1920 have made X-rays much safer for patients and technicians. Gage of Nebraska was also discovering the dangers of radiation exposure at that time, including reddened skin, skin lesions, skin sloughing off, and hair loss. “Don’t talk to me about X-rays,” he famously said. From then on, Edison wasn’t fond of the technology and stopped his research. Eventually, he had both of his arms amputated due to cancer, and he died of X-ray exposure in 1904. Clarence Dally, a glassblower who worked with Edison, would X-ray his own hands to test X-ray tubes. It was during Edison’s research that the dangers of X-rays were discovered. The Coolidge gradually replaced the cold cathode-ray tubes, and this design is still in use today. These tubes create continuous X-ray emissions, are more stable than the cathode ray tubes, and allow the intensity and energy of the rays to be controlled separately. In 1913, William Coolidge invented the Coolidge vacuum tube. He settled on calcium tungstate, and with it, he developed the first mass-produced imaging device, the “Vitascope.” Today we call his invention the fluoroscope. ![]() He experimented with various materials to learn which was the most effective to use for the screen. (Grubbe would go on to die in 1960 from cancer due to radiation exposure.)Īround this same time, Thomas Edison started his own X-ray research. They X-rayed a boy named Eddie McCarthy to diagnose a broken wrist.Īlso in 1896, Emil Grubbe of Chicago is thought to be the first to use radiation to treat cancer he successfully treated a woman with breast cancer. Gilman Frost, were the first to take a diagnostic X-ray. X-Ray’s Early Contribution to MedicineĪ year after Roentgen’s discovery, in 1896, Dr. But he couldn’t have known that his discovery would become one of the cornerstones of modern medicine. When she looked at the image, his wife is said to have cried, “I have seen my death!”įor his discovery of radiation, Roentgen won the very first Nobel Prize in physics in 1901. He created the very first X-ray by capturing the image of the bones of his wife’s hand. ![]() He named this radiation X-ray, with X standing for unknown. He soon learned that the rays had very short wavelengths that enabled them to pass through human flesh and leave a shadow of the underlying bones on the screen. He concluded that a type of radiation must be at work from inside the tube. He then covered the tube with black paper to see if the light would shine through, and a nearby screen treated with a chemical called barium platinocyanide began to glow. He applied a high voltage to the tube and noticed that the positive and negative electrodes within the tube caused it to emit light. In 1895, Wilhelm Roentgen, a professor of physics in Bavaria, was working on an experiment with cathode ray tubes to learn if cathode rays could travel through a vacuum tube. But few accidental discoveries (with the possible exception of penicillin) have had the impact on humanity that the X-ray has. ![]() Penicillin, microwaves, Coca-Cola, and Super Glue are just a few examples. Have you ever wondered, “How did they ever think of that?” The truth is, most scientific breakthroughs are made only after extensive experimentation with gradual gains, with each researcher building on the work of those who came before.īut many of the world’s greatest inventions were based on discoveries made by accident.
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