Radiologist
Abbe was a renowned surgeon and medical pioneer. He was an attending surgeon at St. Luke's Hospital in New York, where the plastic surgical laboratory is named for him. He was a lecturer and fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and Vice President of the Academy of Medicine.
He befriended the Curies, and in particular Marie Curie. He collected many photographs of her, documented the production of radium, and explored, with her, the medical uses of radiation and x-rays. In 1904, he introduced the practice of using radiation to treat cancer and founded the science of radiation oncology. In 1927, he founded the Abbe Museum of Native American artifacts.
In 1904, after corresponding with Professor and Madame Curie, he visited their laboratories in Paris. Joining in their groundbreaking research, he became the founder of radiation therapy in the United States. He was a vigorous opponent of the use of tobacco which he considered a cause of cancer and reported over 100 cases of smoker's cancer. In later years, at his Bar Harbor summer home, "Brook End," Abbe created a garden in whose pool floated two swans – Pierre and Marie.
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