Early Protection and Radiological Physics

Summary

In paying this tribute to Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen and in recalling the early development of radiological physics we ourselves can have no personal experience of the excitement the discovery of X-rays engendered nor of the speed with which it was taken up by the scientific and medical world. We can, however, readily appreciate that the early X-ray workers encountered and understood most of the problems that beset the use of X-rays and it is my purpose and hope to show how the problems of those days were eventually solved and developed into the modern practice of dosimetry and protection. This has been the work of many scientists in many countries but my account must be to some extent personal and reflect the times I have known.