IRTAH - Historical Perspective of Radiology

Archimedes

explained the reaction of solids when they are placed in liquids.

Democritus

described materials as being composed of ultimate particles.

Thales

discovered some of the effects of electricity.

Electricity, vacuums, image-recording material

3 specific aspects of physical science

Evangelista Torricelli

produced the 1st recognized vacuum - Barometer (1643)

Otto van Guericke

invented an air pump that was capable of removing air from a vessel or tube (1646)

Robert Boyle

Known for his law of gases. Discovered that the volume of a gas decreases with increasing pressure and vice versa—the famous Boyle's law (1659)

Hermann Sprengel

developed type of air pump that emptied the air from a container simply by the nature of mercury (1865)

17th century forward

main interest of scientists is the experimentation with electricity.

William Gilbert

one of the 1st to study electricity and magnetism. Also noted for inventing primitive electroscope.

Robert Boyle

discovered that electric force could be transmitted through a vacuum and observed attraction and repulsion.

Isaac Newton

built and improved the static generator

Charles du Fay

working with glass, silk, and paper, distinguished 2 different kinds of electricity. +-

Abbe Jean-Antoine Nollet

significant improvement in the electroscope (forerunner of x-ray tube).

Benjamin Franklin

Pioneers in electricity. Conducted many electrical experiments.

William Watson

demonstrated a current of electricity by transmitting electricity from a Leyden jar through wires and vacuum tube.

William Morgan

Noticed the difference in color of partially evacuated tubes.

When a tube cracked and air leaked in - the amount of air in the tube determined the coloration.

Michael Faraday

induced an electric current by moving a magnet in and out of the coil.

Electromagnetic induction

led to production of better generators and

transformers and high voltages (1831)

Johann Wilhelm Hittorf

experiments with cathode rays -streams of electrons emitted from the cathode.

William Crookes

furthered study the cathode rays -Crookes Tube

Philipp Leonard

 furthered study the cathode rays. Cathode rays could penetrate thin metal and would project a few cm into the air.

William Goodspeed

produced a radiograph (1890). Was not credited with the discovery of x-rays.

Johann Heinrich Schulze

 produced the 1st photographic copy of written material (1727)

discovered that silver nitrate was sensitive to light -darkened upon exposure to light in order to produce a negative image

Richard Leach Maddox

produced a film with a gelatin silver bromide emulsion (1871)

George Eastman

produced and patented roll-paper film (1884) -

Eastman Kodak Company

Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen

While operating a Crookes tube at high voltage in a darkened room, he noticed a piece of barium platinocyanide paper on a bench several feet from the tube glowed (fluorescence)

March 27, 1845

Roentgen’s date of birth

February 10, 1923

Roentgen’s date of death

Anna Bertha Ludwig

wife of Roentgen

Wurzburg University

University Roentgen worked

November 8, 1895

discovery of xrays

December 28, 1895

On a New Kind of Rays publication

15 minutes

Ludwig’s exposure for the first radiograph

Thomas Alva Edison

took notice and questioned the effects of x-rays.

He complained that his eyes were sore after working with a fluorescent tube.

Michael Idvorsky Pupin

1st known radiograph produced in the United State.

Demonstrated the use of a radiographic intensifying screen (film-screen combination)

1896

Thomas Alva Edison

developed the fluoroscopy - using x-ray to image the body in movement and motion.

• Calcium Tungstate

• Zinc Cadmium sulfide

1898

Calcium Tungstate and Zinc Cadmium Sulfide

used in fluoroscopy

William Rollins

a boston Dentist, used x-ray to image teeth

Pioneer in Radiation Protection

Lead sheet with a hole in the center

to restrict the xray beam

Leather or Aluminum filter

inserting this will improve the quality of radiographs.

Discovery of Radioactivity

certain elements to emit rays or subatomic particles spontaneously from matter.

Pierre Curie

radium killed diseased cells

1903

Marie Curie

received her 2nd Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. 

1903

Henri Becquerel

1903

Clarence Madison Dally

assistant of Edison

suffered severe radiation damage - burn and amputation of both arms.

Died in 1904 and is counted as the 1st x-ray fatality in the United States.

Charles L. Leonard

found that by exposing 2 glass x-ray plates with the emulsion surfaces together, exposure time is halved.

• Double-emulsion radiography

1904

Glass Plate

Roentgen’s time

Cellulose Nitrate

World War 1 (flammable)

Cellulose Triacetate

1920, safety film

Polyester

1960, more stable plastic film

Homer Clyde Snook

introduced a substitute high-voltage power supply, an interrupless transformer

Its capability greatly exceeded the capability of the Crookes tube

1907

William D. Coolidge

hot-cathode x-ray tube - Coolidge Tube - far superior to the Crookes Tube

• It was a vacuum tube that allowed x-ray intensity and energy to be selected separately and with great accuracy

1913

Gustav Bucky

 (German)

• invented the stationary grid “Glitterblende” and moving grid

1913

Hollis E. Potter

 (American) -unaware of Bucky’s patent

• Invented moving grid

1915

1921

Potter-Bucky grid was introduced

1946

Bell Telephone Lab - light amplifier tube

1950

This device was adapted for fluoroscopy as an image intensifier tube

1960

Diagnostic ultrasonography, gamma camera.

1970

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and X-ray CT

1980

MRI

Radiation Protection

• Even low doses of radiation may result in a small incidence of latent harmful effects (late ang side effect)
  

• Human fetuses are sensitive to radiation

Time, distance, shielding

cardinal principles of radiation control

Filtration

metal filters, aluminum or copper

• Absorbs low-energy x-rays before it reach the patient

Collimation

restricts the x-ray beam to that part of the body to be imaged

Protective Apparel

lead material to make aprons and gloves

Gonadal Shielding

Lead material

Use to all persons of childbearing age

Protective Barrier

Lead lined with leaded-glass window.

personnel remain behind the barrier during x-ray examination