Radiation

History

Wilhelm Roentgen discovered artificial radioactivity in 1895 with his observation that emissions from a Crookes tube (a glass vacuum tube with a high-voltage electric current flowing through it) caused a paper coated with fluorescent material to glow. He put this discovery to use by taking an ‘X ray’ of his wife's hand by placing the hand on a photographic plate and exposing it using the Crookes tube: The developed plate revealed the bones of the hand. In 1896, Henri Becquerel discovered the existence of natural radioactivity, which he demonstrated by exposing a photographic plate wrapped in black paper by laying crystals of a uranium compound on top of the paper. The exposed plate displayed emanations from the uranium that were similar to the X rays discovered by Roentgen.

Many uses were found for both natural and artificial radiation, but unfortunately, the consequences of human exposure to radiation were not immediately understood. One of the worst examples of occupational radiation poisoning involved young women who painted dials on watch faces using radioactive paint. The first dial painter to die of radium poisoning was a young woman who had been working at U.S. Radium in New Jersey for only 3 years; her death in 1922 was followed by that of a number of her coworkers. All the early deaths involved necrosis of the jawbone (the painters used their lips to maintain a fine point on the brush) and rampant infections; others died of anemia, bone cancer, or multiple myelomas. Working with artificial radiation also proved dangerous: for instance, Clarence Dally, chief assistant to Thomas Edison, repeatedly exposed his hands to X rays in the course of his experimental work. After a few years, Dally began to suffer burns and hair loss, followed by ulcers and cancerous sores, and ultimately had both arms amputated. Radiologists, who in the early years of their profession were exposed to high levels of radiation on a daily basis, suffered higher rates of cancer, infertility, and birth defects than the general public, and hand amputations were common among that occupational group.

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