The Burning Question: Early U.S. Radiology and X-Ray Burns, 1896-1904

Abstract

Early radiologists experienced occupational injuries that they called x-ray burns. Between 1896 and 1904, early U.S. radiologists debated the cause of these injuries. Using the American X-Ray Journal, I identify at least half a dozen competing theories. Notably, early U.S. radiologists seemed to resist the conclusion that their injuries were directly caused by exposure to x-rays. I argue that the early U.S. radiologists demonstrated vocational bias against concluding that the technology around which they were forging a new discipline was inherently dangerous. I also argue that this bias was left unchecked by a dearth of conclusive evidence that x-ray burns were directly caused by exposure to x-rays.