The risks of X-ray research
Stories from Physics
for 11-14
14-16
Thomas Edison nearly lost his eyesight using fluoroscopes (devices that produce real time X-ray images) from exposure to X-rays through the viewfinder. When asked about his work with X-rays, he replied: “Don’t talk to me about X-rays, I’m afraid of them.”
Edison’s assistant, Clarence Madison Dally, who was subjected to the fluoroscopy, suffered greatly from his exposure: he had both of his arms amputated following severe ulceration to his hands and died soon after of cancer.
References
T. J. Jorgensen, Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2016, p. 32.
