The World Reacts Quickly to the Discovery

During the month of January we saw the news of Dr. Roentgen's discovery make its way around the world.

February has been a time of reacting to the discovery.

During February physicists, engineers and physicians in many countries began to experiment with and demonstrate the potential of making medical diagnoses with x-rays.

A factor which contributed to the rapid introduction of x-ray imaging was the availability of equipment. Many physics departments and laboratories already had gas discharge tubes and high-voltage electrical generators. These were Ruhmkorff-type induction coils or static electric generators.

Some of the early experiences with x-ray diagnosis which are examples of the rapid introduction in other countries during February were:

USA

Professor Edwin Frost produced an x-ray image of a patient's fractured wrist for his physician brother, Dr. Gilmon Frost, at Dartmouth College in the USA.

CANADA

Professor John Cox of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, used x-ray imaging to locate a bullet in a gunshot victim's leg.

DENMARK

M. Knudsen, a physicist at the Technical University in Copenhagen, made a diagnostic x-ray image of a fracture.

CROATIA

Professor Petar Salcher produced x-ray images of a hand at Rijeka's Municipal Boys School.

CZECH REPUBLIC

E. Strouhal described the diagnostic use of x-rays at a meeting of the Czech Medical Society in Prague.

We can assume that similar activities were underway in other countries exploring the medical benefits to be derived from the new kind of radiation.

In the Nov. 1, 1895 edition of The X-ray Century we examined the history of gas discharge tubes.

In the Nov. 8, 1895 edition of The X-ray Century we were there when Prof. Roentgen discovered a new kind of ray.

In the Dec. 1, 1895 edition of The X-ray Century we looked at the investigation which led Dr. Roentgen to write this paper.

In the Jan. 1, 1896 edition of The X-ray Century we read Prof. Roentgen's first paper describing the new kind of ray.

In the Feb. 1, 1896 edition of The X-ray Century we watched the word spread around the world.

The next edition of The X-ray Century will be published on April 1.

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