Radiation evangelists : technology, therapy, and uncertainty at the turn of the century / Jeffrey Womack.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Womack, Jeffrey, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Radiotherapy--United States--History.

Radiotherapy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (222 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : University of Pittsburgh Press, [2020]

Summary:

"Radiation Evangelists explores x-ray and radium therapy in the United States and Great Britain during a crucial period of its development, from 1896 to 1925. It focuses on the pioneering work of early advocates in the field, the "radiation evangelists" who, motivated by their faith in a new technology, trust in new energy sources, and hope for future breakthroughs, turned a blind eye to the dangers of radiation exposure. Although ionizing radiation effectively treated diseases like skin infections and cancers, radiation therapists-who did not need a medical education to develop or administer procedures or sell tonics containing radium-operated in a space of uncertainty about exactly how radiation worked or would affect human bodies. And yet radium, once a specialized medical treatment, would eventually become a consumer health product associated with the antibacterial properties of sunlight. This book raises important questions about medical experimentation and the so-called "Golden Rule" of medical ethics, issues of safety and professional identity, and the temptation of a powerful therapeutic tool that also posed significant risks in its formative years. In this cautionary tale of technological medical progress, Jeffrey Womack reveals how practitioners and their patients accepted uncertainty as a condition of their therapy in an attempt to alleviate the human suffering it would ultimately cause"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Evangelists and martyrs

X-ray therapy in the Röntgen rush

Organizing, proselytizing, and professionalizing in the Röntgen rush

Professional combat

Uncertainty, the evangelists, and the cold cathode tube

Treating without knowing

Radium therapy

Radium as consumable energy

Conclusion: Seen but not felt.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780822987437

0822987430