History of radiology

The history of radiology can be traced back to Wilhelm Roentgen taking the first x-ray of a person - specifically his wife's hand on November 8 1895, now an iconic image.

Since then there have been many milestones and individual contributions leading to the development and refinement of the various modalities and techniques currently being performed in imaging departments around the world.

Related Radiopaedia articles

History of radiology

• key milestones
  • 1880: Pierre Curie discovered piezoelectricity
  • 1895: Wilhelm Roentgen detects x-rays
  • 1896: Antoine Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity
  • 1896: Sydney Rowland founds the first radiology journal, Archives of Clinical Skiagraphy
  • 1896: Thomas Edison invents the first commercially-available fluoroscope
  • 1896: John Macintyre opens the world's first radiology department in Glasgow
  • 1898: Marie Curie publishes her paper 'Rays emitted by uranium and thorium compounds'
  • 1913: Albert Salomon commences research leading to mammography
  • 1913: William Coolidge introduces his eponymous x-ray tube
  • 1927: Egas Moniz develops cerebral angiography
  • 1934: Frederic and Irene Joliot-Curie artificially produce radioisotopes
  • 1936: John Lawrence uses phosphorus-32 to treat leukemia
  • 1939: Kitty Clark publishes Clark’s Positioning in Radiography
  • 1950s: David Kuhl invents Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
  • 1953: Sven-Ivar Seldinger develops his famous technique
  • 1957: Ian Donald invents fetal ultrasound
  • 1964: Charles Dotter introduces image-guided intervention
  • 1965: Benjamin Felson publishes his Principles of Chest Roentgenology
  • 1971: Godfrey Hounsfield introduces the CT scanner (co-developed with Allan Cormack)
  • 1977: Ray Damadian builds the first commercial MRI scanner
  • 1989: Spiral CT introduced
  • 2005: Frank Gaillard creates Radiopaedia.org :)
  • 2012: inaugural International Day of Radiology
• key figures in the history of radiology
  • Antoine Henri Becquerel
  • Gustav Bucky
  • Kathleen "Kitty" Clark
  • John Wesley Coltman
  • William D Coolidge
  • Allan M Cormack
  • Marie Curie
  • Pierre Curie
  • Ray V Damadian
  • Ian Donald
  • Charles T Dotter
  • Thomas A Edison
  • Charles Thurstan Holland
  • Godfrey N Hounsfield
  • Frederick Joliot
  • Irene Joliot-Curie
  • David E Kuhl
  • Paul C Lauterbur
  • Peter Mansfield
  • Egas Moniz
  • Bernard Ziedses des Plantes
  • Wilhelm C Roentgen
  • Sven-Ivar Seldinger
  • Albert Soiland
  • Florence Stoney
• important figures in the history of radiology
  • Manoel de Abreu
  • James Ambrose
  • Antoine Béclère
  • Eugene W Caldwell
  • Ben Felson
  • Felix Fleischner
  • Ronald Grainger
  • Peter Kerley
  • Alban Köhler
  • John Macintyre
  • Philip ES Palmer
  • Maurice M Reeder
  • Sydney D Rowland
  • Albert Salomon
  • Robert Steiner
  • Juan M Taveras
  • William L Thompson
  • Ian Young
• Nobel Prize winners in radiology
• history of modalities
  • plain radiography
  • fluoroscopy
  • nuclear medicine
    • SPECT
    • PET
  • ultrasound
  • CT
  • MRI
  • interventional radiology
• historical imaging techniques
  • bronchography
  • conventional tomography
  • pneumoencephalography
  • translumbar aortography
• history of radiology journals
  • American Journal of Neuroradiology (AJNR)
  • American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR)
  • American X-Ray Journal
  • Archives of Clinical Skiagraphy
  • British Journal of Radiology (BJR)
    • BJR|case reports
    • BJR|Open
  • Clinical Radiology
    • Journal of the Faculty of Radiologists
  • Emergency Radiology
  • European Radiology
  • Journal de Radiologie
  • Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR)
  • Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Oncology (JMIRO)
  • RadioGraphics
  • Radiology
  • Seminars in Roentgenology
• history of radiology meetings
  • European Congress of Radiology (ECR)
  • International Congress of Radiology
  • RSNA Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting
• history of radiology organizations
  • Australia
    • Australian Society of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy (ASMIRT)
    • Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR)
  • United Kingdom
    • British Institute of Radiology (BIR)
    • Royal College of Radiologists (RCR)
      • British Association of Radiologists (BAR)
      • Faculty of Radiologists (FR)
    • Society of Radiographers (SoR)
  • United States
    • American Board of Radiology (ABR)
    • American College of Radiology (ACR)
    • American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS)
    • American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR)
    • Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)
  • international
    • Asian Oceanian Society of Radiology (AOSR)
    • Colegio Interamericano de Radiologia (CIR)
    • European Society of Radiology (ESR)
    • Fleischner Society
    • International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM)
    • International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists (ISRRT)
    • International Society of Radiology (ISR)
    • RAD-AID
• pioneering radiology books
  • Atlas of Normal Roentgen Variants That May Simulate Disease
  • Reeder and Felson's Gamuts in Radiology
  • Radiographic Atlas of Skeletal Development of the Hand and Wrist
  • Roentgenology - The Borderlands of the Normal and Early Pathological in the Skiagram
  • The Roentgen Rays in Medicine and Surgery as an Aid in Diagnosis and as a Therapeutic Agent
  • Textbook of X-ray Diagnosis by British Authors