History
Radiography started in 1895 with the discovery of X-rays (later also called Röntgen rays after the man who first described their properties in rigorous detail), a type of electromagnetic radiation. Soon these found various applications, from helping to find shoes that fit, to the more lasting medical uses. X-rays were put to diagnostic use very early, before the dangers of ionising radiation were discovered. Initially, many groups of staff conducted radiography in hospitals, including physicists, photographers, doctors, nurses, and engineers. The medical speciality of radiology grew up around the new technology, and this lasted many years. When new diagnostic tests involving X-rays were developed, it was natural for the radiographers to be trained and adopt this new technology. This happened first with fluoroscopy, computed tomography (1960s), and mammography. Ultrasound (1970s) and magnetic resonance imaging (1980s) was added to the list of skills used by radiographers because they are also medical imaging, but these disciplines do not use ionising radiation or X-rays. Although a nonspecialist dictionary might define radiography quite narrowly as "taking X-ray images", this has only been part of the work of an "X-ray department", radiographers, and radiologists for a very long time. X-rays are also exploited by industrial radiographers in the field of nondestructive testing, where the newer technology of ultrasound is also used.
Read more about this topic: Medical Radiography
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps the underground aquifers flowing; it is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“There is nothing truer than myth: history, in its attempt to “realize” myth, distorts it, stops halfway; when history claims to have “succeeded” this is nothing but humbug and mystification. Everything we dream is “realizable.” Reality does not have to be: it is simply what it is.”
—Eugène Ionesco (b. 1912)
“The principal office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–c. 120)