Re: Wilhelm Roentgen

[jrcamero@facstaff.wisc.edu (John Cameron)]

JIM, IT IS EASY FOR ME TO MAKE COPIES OF THE VIDEO TAPES. I PLAN TO MAKE A
COPY OR TWO OF THE PAUL HODGES TAPE AND I'LL TRY TO REMEMBER TO SEND YOU
ONE  AT NO CHARGE - JUST TO SHOW MY APPRECIATION FOR ALL THE HARD WORK YOU
ARE DOING TO HELP SOCIETY. THE PROBLEM IS, YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO REMIND
ME AS I WILL BE AWAY THE NEXT THREE WEEKS. - JOHN
>You certainly made a great response to Alan Enns' inquiry about 'hearing any
>stories or anecdotes about the 'olden days' ".  
>
>I'd like a copy of your tape with Hodges. Can you provide a list of other
>interviews with subjects that you have? Have they been transcribed? 
>
>You should also send this to the MEDPHYS list, and your other response/comment 
>on MEDPHYS to this list. (If you don't mind, I'd like to send this also to the 
>ANS Biology and Medicine Division list.) 
>
>Note that the 500 rad lifetime is consistent with the estimate for the UK
>radiologists that started practice after 1921 reported on Smith and Doll,
>1981, showing no adverse health effects compared to other comparable medical
>practioners (as compared to radiologists practicing before 1921 that did have
>excess cancers, but very much higher doses, including the radiologists who
>practiced extensively in very long-hours and primitive field hospital
>conditions in WW I.) 
>
>Thanks.
>
>Regards, Jim Muckerheide
>jmuckerheide@delphi.com
>------------------------------------------------
>> The problems of taking x-rays in the old days were not as clear cut as they
>> appear from our modern view of x-ray imaging. In March of 1993 I did a 77
>> minutes video interview with Dr. Paul Hodges, one of the pioneer
>> radiologists.  He was then 100 years old! He first took x-rays in 1910 in
>> his uncle's private hospital in Ashland Wisconsin. He was the chair of
>> radiology at U of Chicago from 1928 to 1958! One of his proteges was Dr.
>> Russell Morgan. Copies of the video interview are available from me for the
>> cost of copying and mailing it. Dr. Hodges' twin sister was living in the
>> same nursing home! He talked about the early problems with taking x-rays
>> before grids were invented. They originally thought the poor images through
>> thick body parts was due to off-focus radiation from their gas tubes!
>> Compton's contributions were far in the future.
>>         I have done similar interviews with Prof. Don Kerst, inventor of
>> the Betatron and Dr. Juan del Regato who received his therapy training at
>> the Curie Institute in Paris when Madame Curie was still the director.
>> Those interested in therapy history might like to see the 4 hour video
>> interview I did with Dr. Frank Ellis in Oxford who was doiing brachytherapy
>> in 1931! Hodges, del Regator and Ellis all indicate that the risk from
>> radiation is not as great as many people believe. Frank Ellis thinks his
>> life time whole body dose is abou 500 rads. The dose to his finger tips on
>> the right hand he estimates at over 15,000 rads. He does have an occasional
>> basal cell growht nipped off his right index finger. 
>> 
>> >Just a reminder - it was 100 years ago today that Wilhelm Roentgen
>> >discovered x-rays.
>> >
>> >I'd be interested in hearing any stories or anecdotes about the 'olden
>> >days'.  I find that such information helps to animate a subject that many
>> >non-physics-types tend to otherwise find too dry to be of interest.
>> >
>> >thanks,
>> >
>> >Alan Enns
>> >aenns@unixg.ubc.ca
>> John R. Cameron 2678 SW 14th Drive, Gainesville, FL 32608-2050 
>> phone: 904/371-9865; fax 904/371-9866  e-mail: jrcamero@facstaff.wisc.edu
John R. Cameron 2678 SW 14th Drive, Gainesville, FL 32608-2050 
phone: 904/371-9865; fax 904/371-9866  e-mail: jrcamero@facstaff.wisc.edu