the British Society for the History of Radiology
BOOK REVIEW
An Interventional Radiology Odyssey: The Story of my Life and Work
by Josef Rosch
Springer 2016 pp103
Reviewed by Dr Arpan K Banerjee Chair Brit Soc Hist Radiology
Autobiographies written by radiologists are few and far between. Few radiologists
have chronicled their own life stories. It is therefore a great pleasure to find
this new radiology autobiography written by a true giant of interventional radiology.
Josef Rosch who was born in 1925 in Czechoslovakia has chronicled his amazing life
story in this slim volume. It is a delight to read and is likely to inspire the
next generation of interventional radiologists. Rosch was inspired to do radiology
by his inspirational radiology teaching during medical student days having initially
intended to be a physician.
Between 1954 and 1967 he carried out research on angiography in Prague. In 1967
he moved to Oregon on a research fellowship to work with Charles Dotter, the angiography
pioneer. The pioneering work on gastrointestinal bleed embolization, thrombolysis,
pharmacoangiograhy and TIPS( transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt) and
expandable metallic stents carried out there is described. Rosch chronicles his
friendship with Judkins, Dotter and Bill Cook (owner and President of Cook Medical)
amongst many other friendships.
He mentored generations of future leaders in their fields. The founding of the
Dotter Interventional Institute in 1990 is described along with his subsequent new
fellows and research which continued well into his retirement years.
Rosch has had a brilliant career in this new field and can lay claim to be one of
the true pioneers of this subject. His phenomenal industry , prolific research output
and work ethic come through in this slim volume. All who read it will be inspired
by his remarkable story and his outstanding contribution to the new field of medicine.
THE ORAL HISTORY SOCIETY
BSHR has recently joined the Oral History Society as a group member. It gives us
access to their Journal and services. Take a look at their website for details.
If you wish to look at the Journal you will need our group username and password.
Members can obtain these from the Secretary. Email info.bshr@gmail.com
BOOK REVIEW
Louis Harold Gray: a founding father of radiobiology by S Wynchank.
Springer 2017 pages 137
Reviewed by Dr Arpan K Banerjee Past Chairman British Society for the History of
Radiology.
This slim volume is a publication from the Springer Biography series. The last contribution
in the series I read was the superb autobiography of Rosch the interventional radiology
pioneer.
This biography is of Louis Harold Gray the British physicist and a giant in the
field of radiobiology which is the basis of modern radiotherapy. Hal Gray as he
was known was born in London in 1905 an only child educated at Christ’s Hospital
and subsequently the physics department at Cambridge University where he was taught
by Rutherford. He was a brilliant student and continued to do a PHD at the Cavendish
labs under the supervision of Chadwick discoverer of the neutron and a Nobel Laureate.
Gray was interested in nuclear physics and was interested in how ionising radiation
could treat tumours. He moved to Mount Vernon Hospital to pursue his interests as
hospital physicist. He used a neutron generator to measure ionising effects on tissues.
After the War he moved to the MRC Radiotherapy research unit at the Hammersmith Hospital
where his team did much pioneering work.
In 1949 he became President of the British Institute of Radiology. Sadly, after differences
with his boss at he MRC unit he had to leave the Hammersmith Hospital in 1953 and
returned to Mount Vernon where he built a superb world famous radiobiology unit.
He did much travelling in the late 1950’s when he was at the height of his fame.
Gray was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. Gray’s stroke is described and he sadly
passed away in 1965 aged only 59. In 1975 he was honoured by having the absorbed
dose of radiation named after him.
This well researched biography is a delight to read and tells the story of a remarkable
scientist whose contributions laid the foundation stones for future radiotherapy.
Report of the British Society for the History of Radiology annual lecture on ‘Albert
Einstein’
By
Dr Arpan K Banerjee Past Chair Brit Soc History of Radiology
The name Albert Einstein (1879-1955) is universally associated with the term scientific
genius and as a scientist he needs little in the way of an introduction.
Born in 1879 in Germany, he did not show early signs of his genius and in 1900 completed
his teaching diploma in maths and physics at the Zurich Polytechnic. He struggled
to get a job and ended up working in a patent office. In 1905 he completed his PhD
thesis from Zurich University entitled ‘A New Determination of Molecular dimensions’.
That was his annus mirabilis, publishing four important papers each itself worthy
of a Nobel Prize aged only26 years. They were on the subject of Brownian motion,
photoelectric effect (important for radiology), relativity and mass energy equivalence
known more popularly as E=MC2. He instantly became famous, became a lecturer in
Berne , then a Professor in Prague, returning to Zurich in 1912 as Professor of Theoretical
Physics. Einstein emigrated to USA and worked in Princeton. He was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Physics in 1921. Einstein was feted the world over and became friends with
people as diverse as Charles Chaplin the film-maker and the Indian writer and Nobel
laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
This year’s British Society for the History of Radiology’s annual lecture on 20 Feb
2017 was a theatrical presentation entitled ‘Albert Einstein – Relativively speaking’
(pardon the pun!). It was presented by John Hinton and Jo Eagle of the Tangram Theatre
Company (a company conceived by graduates of the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, a
school of physical theatre whose alumni include Stephen Berkoff and Yasmin Reza
the playright).
John Hinton delivered the presentation in the guise of Einstein and the evening
included reminiscences of Einstein’s childhood, his mother’s love of music, his
first wife and her scientific contributions, his equivalence theory set to rap, his
Princeton lecture, explanation of some of his ideas with audience participation.
His description of Arthur Eddington, the British astronomer helping prove his theory
of relativity during the solar eclipse of 1919, his relationship with his second
wife Elsa and more seriously his great upset that his discoveries had led to the
atom bomb – Einstein was a pacifist.
The evening was a fascinating, unique presentation of Einstein the man interspersed
with music and song and had the audience captivated in the Governor’s Hall at St
Thomas’s Hospital, London on the 20th of February.
All who attended were enthralled and enlightened by the unique performance re-telling
the story of Einstein, a man universally acknowledged as the brightest scientific
star in the human intellectual firmament.
First published in Rad Magazine April 12 2017 p11
Review of History of Radiology Session UKRC Radiology Conference 2017, 13 June,
Manchester.
Reviewed by Dr Arpan K Banerjee, Past Chairman British Society for the History of
Radiology.
This year’s annual congress was held in Manchester Conference centre a couple of
weeks after the city had been subject to the dreadful bombing at the end of the
Ariana Grande concert in Manchester Arena. This is the first time in living memory
that bags were searched at the conference entrance – a sad reflection of the modern
world we live in.
The history session consisted of three talks. Prof Adrian Thomas opened with his
talk on ‘Sebastian Gilbert Scott and the treatment of ankylosing spondylitis’. Scott
worked at the London Hospital. Scott had an interest in medical jurisprudence and
skeletal variations. He published a book on this in 1931. He pioneered the importance
of accurate interpretation of radiographs in compensation cases and insisted on quality
radiographs of the injury being obtained and the importance of being familiar with
variations in appearance between normal and abnormal when interpreting these. He
was a great pioneer in medico-legal reporting. Scott was, like many radiologists
of his era, also interested in radiation treatment of medical conditions including
asthma and ankylosing spondylitis.
This talk was followed by Dr Arpan K Banerjee’s talk on Neville Samuel Finzi (1881-1968).
Finzi the pioneering radiotherapist from St Bartholomew’s Hospital was a great medical
benefactor leaving a large sum of money to the radiology section (he was President
of the section in 1943/44) of the Royal Society of Medicine in London. This money
today funds the Finzi Prize for best paper presented at the Finzi Prize meeting.
He pioneered high voltage radiotherapy in Britain and became an expert on throat
cancer treatment. His many interests included mountain climbing , lawn tennis and
music. Like Scott, Finzi also used radiation treatment for arthritis.
The final talk of the session was Prof Thomas discoursing on ‘Philately and Tuberculosis’.
The talk was illustrated with stamps of Koch, Calmette, Guerin and other pioneers
in addition to ones of sanatoria, miniature radiography, radiography seals and stop
TB campaigns.
All who attended contributed to a lively discussion of the topics at the end and
the session was accompanied by the annual radiology history stand in the conference
venue.
SCOTTISH ORAL HISTORY SOCIETY
14 OCTOBER 2017
This year the Oral History Society is holding its annual event for its regional networkers
in Glasgow at the Scottish Oral History Centre. This is a free event and open to
local OHS members and groups working with oral histories. BSHR is a Member of the
OHS so any of ouir members would be welcome at the event.
We are inviting local OHS members/groups to give a 15 minute presentation and share
their projects relating to any topic for the last hour of the event.
We have 4 presentation slots for Saturday 14th October.
If you are interested in attending RSVP by 24 Sept: juliana.vandegrift@btinternet.com
For more information click here