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Taming the Rays -a history of radiation and protection

by Geoff Meggitt pp 422 Pitchpole Books 2018

ISBN978-0-9575549-8-6

Reviewed by Dr Arpan K Banerjee Past Chair Brit Soc Hist Radiology

This is the second edition of a book first published to great acclaim a decade ago.

The early pioneers did not understand the harmful effect of x-rays and other forms of radiation and chronic overexposure led to a number of early casualties , skin burns , hand amputations etc many who were commemorated in a monument, The Martyrs memorial, built in the grounds of St George’s Hospital, Hamburg.

The book starts with the coverage of the early years of X-rays and radioactivity. It is interesting to note that protective wear appeared as early as 1898 and gloves and aprons became routine in 1905. Even Hall Edwards, a future radiation martyr, recommended that tubes should be shielded and the operator should keep his distance and wear lead glasses when viewing a fluorescent screen. He also knew that the effects were cumulative. He even wrote an article on the harmful effects of radiation using his amputated hand as an example.

The chapter on fission and weapons is a truly international coverage of this subject and makes both interesting but chilling reading especially when covering the recent Chernobyl disaster. The concepts of dose and genetic and somatic effects are covered in detail. There are also useful chapters on radiation measurement and safety as well as a chapter on the development of organisations which specifically set about dealing with the issues of radiation protection and safety including coverage of the X-ray and Radiation Protection Committee’s work chaired by Sir Humphrey Rolleston (Cambridge Professor of Medicine) which published reports and recommendations to ensure the safety of workers involved with radiation in the 1920’s.

This is a comprehensive well researched monograph which is international in its coverage and referenced comprehensively a feature which will help those interested in the primary resources and looking up further information .

Many will dip in and out and are bound to find interesting information in this informative and scholarly contribution to this very important field of study.

Report of the British Society for the History of Radiology annual lecture 2019-

Godfrey Hounsfield – Inventor of the CT scanner

Report by Dr Arpan K Banerjee Past Chair Brit Soc History Radiology

This year’s annual lecture of the BSHR on 18 Feb was delivered by Liz Beckman and Stephen Golding in the Governor’s Hall at St Thomas’s Hospital, London.

Liz Beckmann, an electrical engineer by training and Past President of the BIR, and Stephen Golding, a retired radiologist from Oxford and also a Past President of the BIR. Both had the honour and privilege of meeting and getting to know Hounsfield and the double act was not just a chronological biography of the great man but peppered with reminiscences and personal reflections which gave the presentation a unique dimension and had the audience of over fifty riveted to their seats. Hounsfield was born on 28 Aug 1919 and the lecture was a celebration of the centenary year of his birth. It was also nice to see several people in the audience who had worked directly with Hounsfield.

When the classic presentation on CT scanning occurred on 20 April 1972 at the scientific congress of the British Institute of Radiology (BIR) people realised what an extraordinary advance had been made in the field of radiology. Radiology and the practise of clinical medicine was to be changed forever.

Everyone had to have one of these new machines.

Hounsfield came from humble origins the youngest of 5 children born to a father who had hit hard times and Hounsfield grew up in modest circumstances on a farm. At Magnus School near Newark, Hounsfield did not excel academically -- although he did like maths and physics -- and his school report said he was intellectually retarded. Hounsfield was an experimenter and liked making things. He was imbued with an insatiable curiosity. Holidays would be taken in the Lake District. Hounsfield liked taking long walks and was a keen rambler.

He did not go to university but joined the RAF and worked on radar and started working for EMI in 1949 where he started to develop his interest in computers. The work here was to lead to the development of the CT scanner and the famous 1972 papers with Ambrose.

Hounsfield was showered with honours and a Nobel Prize in 1979 and a knighthood in 1981 but always remained modest and shy . He did not like the limelight and actually disliked lecturing and giving presentations and being in the limelight. He had no interest in money or power.

The 21st anniversary of the discovery was celebrated at the Glasgow meeting in 1993 ( I remember it well) and was attended by Hounsfield. He was also happy to give his name to the eponymous Hounsfield lectures started by the efforts of Dr Golding and initially funded by the BIR and the first lecture was deliverd by the late Martin Blomley in 1997 on the topic of functional imaging with contrast agents. This lecture was to be given annually by a young researcher and not just the great and good in radiology. Hounsfield would often attend and always enjoy questioning the lecturer about the new ideas. It was this that gave him the greatest pleasure.

Godfrey, forever the unassuming and retiring bachelor, died in 2004 and left money in his will to help with the BIR lectures. His legacy lives on in the way modern medicine is practised.

All those who attended the lecture were left humbled by hearing a brilliant exposition about not only a remarkable scientific genius but also a man of wonderful character.

Report of History of Radiology session Liverpool 10 June 2019

by Dr Arpan K Banerjee Past Chair Brit Soc History of Radiology

This year’s annual radiology imaging and oncology congress was again held in the ACC , Liverpool. The radiology history session organised by the BSHR was held on the Monday 10 June and consisted of four talks.

Professor Duck opened with a talk ‘The Marie Curie Hospital Hampstead 1929-1967’.

Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium in 1898 and in 1925 a UK trial using radium was commenced in uterine cancer patients. In 1929 the hospital opened to treat women with cancer with radiotherapy. The hospital had high voltage radiotherapy equipment, a diagnostic radiology and a pathology department. Funding was obtained from several charitable sources. Over 13000 cases were seen during the time the hospital was open and patients with cancer of the cervix, uterus and breast were treated along with other cancers. It is interesting to note that menorrhagia was also treated with radiation in this era. Sadly the hospital was bombed in 1944 and facilities eventually moved to the Mount Vernon in 1967.

The next talk was delivered by Dr Arpan K Banerjee titled ‘Some common eponymous signs in gastrointestinal radiology-who were the eponymists?’ Gastrointestinal radiology is full of eponymous signs ranging from Chilaiditi’s sign, Rigler’s sign and triad, Carman’s sign in barium radiology and eponymous disease like Crohn’s disease to name a few. A brief biographical vignette of these pioneers were presented along with the original descriptions of the signs and examples were shown.

The next talk was given by Prof Adrian Thomas titled ‘Tuberculosis and radiotherapy: a historical perspective’. The talk covered the different approaches and models of treatment throughout the ages with particular reference to TB treatment. Radiotherapy started in Vienna with Leopold Freund. Finsen had experimented with light therapy which fell out of fashion. Lupus vulgaris was treated successfully with radiotherapy. Eventually with rapid pharmacological progress in the latter half of the last century physical forms of treatment were abandoned in favour of pharmacotherapy.

The final talk was delivered by Elizabeth Beckman ‘Godfrey Hounsfield –the centenary of his birth.’ The audience was given an overview of his ancestry and early unpromising start as evidenced by his school reports. It is often the case that people who go onto achieve great things often have undistinguished school careers.

Hounsfield the bachelor was a shy unassuming modest character and what came across was how humble he remained in spite of his great discovery of the CT scan which was to revolutionise medical practice, the 1979 Nobel Prize (shared with Cormack) and other accolades that were showered on him.

The stand in the exhibition was a tribute to Hounsfield and thanks should be given to Dr Thomas for this and also mention must be made of Dr Thomas’s poster exhibit on ‘Graves Disease and radiotherapy: the work of Florence Stoney.’

Radiograph of Recumbent Man 1898? By

Arthur Radiguet [Wellcome Collection]