The man credited with discovering X-rays was German physics professor Wilhelm Röntgen in 1895 and it would earn him a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. His X-ray of his wife's hand made in December 1895 was the first of a human body part. The first discussion of using X-rays in combat medicine came from the Prussian War Ministry but it would be the Italians during the First Italo-Ethiopian War who used the X-ray to locate bullets in two Italian soldiers who had been injured during the Battle of Adwa in 1896. The British started their foray into military radiology when the British Red Cross set up an X-ray station during the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 to provide medical support for Greek forces. A prominent radiologist in England at the time was Dr. John Francis Hall-Edwards and in 1900, he joined the Warwickshire Regiment during the Second Boer War and became the chief radiologist at the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital at Deelfontein, South Africa. By this time, X-ray equipment was standard issue to British military hospitals. Dr. Hall-Edwards spent 14 months at the hospital, performing X-rays on some 280 wounded soldiers. Up until World War One, the apparatus to perform X-rays was stationary, being located at hospitals with fixed locations. That changed in 1914 when Madame Marie Curie created “radiological cars” that were standard lorries donated to her from private sources and converted to become mobile X-ray labs. Nicknamed “Little Curies”, some 20 lorries were fitted with the X-ray apparatus and support equipment plus a dark room for the processing of the photographic plates. Curie herself trained a total of 150 women volunteers to crew the lorries which operated in the front lines with French field hospitals. Not content to lead from behind, Curie operated her own “Little Curie” in support of the effort. The first such lorry was deployed during the First Battle of the Marne which commenced in September 1914. Soon, other warring powers deployed their own mobile X-ray trucks to the front lines.
The dangers of X-rays were known from the very outset of their discovery and subsequent experimentation with them. The majority was burns caused by long exposure to the rays but other ill-effects were documented. Despite this, some physicians claimed that there was no consequences to X-ray exposure at all. Typically, neither the radiologist or the patient was protected in any way during an X-ray examination and in part this was due to the still (at the time) debated side-effects of exposure which contributed to a lack of reliable safety protocols and training. Nevertheless, some steps were taken and this rather curious photograph shows one of them. This was a World War One British radiologist with the rank of sergeant (as denoted by the three reverse chevrons) in the Army Hospital Corps (as denoted by the circular Red Cross insignia) who is wearing a protective apron, gloves, and hood. Although it might appear that the rank is on the actual protective garment, the sleeve seam for the apron can be seen just above the rank and branch insignia. The protection was derived from lead within the apron, gloves, and the hood. It is possible that the hood's vision ports may be leaden glass. The protrusions coming off the hood could be straps or fasteners. There does appear to be a tie at the waist for the apron which suggests it may be more open in the back. It is unknown if this was a prototype or a piece of protective equipment that was put into production and issued to British military radiologists.
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