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Henri Becquerel

Antoine-Henri Becquerel Perhaps responsible for more tears of joy than anyone on earth, Antoine Henri Becquerel could be considered the father of the sonogram, that first, pre-natal view of an unborn baby. The French engineer, physicist, and Nobel laureate discovered evidence of radioactivity, the first step toward what we know today as medical imaging. Becquerel…

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Gerard Croiset, the Man with the X-ray Mind

Gerard Croiset was born in Holland in 1909. As a youth, he trained as a watchmaker. He began saying he could sense events in his employer’s life based on contact with a personal object. He opened a clinic to use his gifts to help others. By 1945, he was being studied by scientists. A series…

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Fun facts about radiology

Amazing, fun and inspiring facts about radiology X-rays have been around for a long time. X-rays were discovered and developed by a German physicist named Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895. Within months of his announcement, physicians and surgeons were using them to detect foreign objects in the body. Within a year, the news and technology were…

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Roentgenizdat: the bizarre history of “bone music”

Elvis’ pelvis was changing the world, but post World War II Russians were out of luck because General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin banned the possession of Western music. State censorship made listening to an American rock and roll song almost impossible. Almost. When fans want to hear music,…

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Vinita Merrill, author and pioneer

She was the woman who literally wrote the book on how radiology departments operate, yet very little is known about her. Every day, radiology departments worldwide follow the same positioning protocol for millions of X-ray examinations, created by an American woman named Vinita Merrill. Her Atlas of Roentgenographic Positions is the gold standard for positioning…

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The self-taught tinker who created CT

Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield was an English electrical engineer who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Allan McLeod Cormack, for his part in developing the diagnostic technique of X-ray computed tomography, or, CT. Hounsfield was the baby of a prominent farming family in Nottinghamshire, England, born in 1919. He was the…

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How future radiology will solve some of the oldest mysteries about the human body

If you or a loved one has ever had a stroke, appendicitis, or cancer, you already know how x-ray examinations save lives. Before radiology, the only way to see inside the body was through surgery, which always carries risks such as infection. In 1895, Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays, producing a tool that let physicians “see” the…

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A little summer fun: radiology in fiction

Maybe you thought radiology had no superheroes. You’d be wrong. Radiology may be more involved in superhero culture than almost any other medical field. Did you know the first superhero with a super skill was not only a woman but that her power was having x-ray eyes? Olga Mesmer didn’t have a secret identity, but…

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Rolf Maximilian Sievert, the father of radiation protection

Every time you shield yourself or a patient from radiation, you should thank Rolf Maximilian Sievert, a Swedish medical physicist whose major contribution was the study of the biological effects of ionizing radiation. Born in Sweden to German parents on May 6, 1896, Sievert was also born into wealth, as his father was a leading…

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Medical device industry facing multi-billion hit from new tariffs

As the world’s largest manufacturer of medical devices, the U.S. industry faces a $5 billion hit from new Trump administration tariffs, it is predicted by experts, out of a total $50 billion market effect for the first year.  A tariff is a tax on imports or exports between sovereign states.  These tariffs are expected to…

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