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hand. This first ever radiograph, accompanied by his paper "On a New Kind Of Rays" was presented at a physics symposium on December 28,1895.
Within weeks of the publishing of Roentgen's paper, x-rays were being immediately put into use to diagnose ailments. Medical doctors saw the benefit immediately, and physicists were being asked to image human beings with x-rays. The first noted use of x-rays being used to diagnose ailments took place in January and February of 1896. On January 2, 1896, Michael Pupin, a Yugoslavian born Physicist, took an x-ray radiograph of a hand to be used in a surgical procedure. The surgeon asked Pupin to locate and mark all the buckshot that was on the image so he would be able to use it as a guide to remove the buckshot during surgery. It was the first radiograph used in a diagnostic fashion.

X-rays were displayed, used and experimented with reckless abandon in the early 20th century. Except for Michael Pupin, whose research shortened the patient's exposure time to x-rays, not many other early pioneers took many precautions to protect themselves while working with these dangerous rays. The results were dire. Roentgen received the first ever Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901 for his discovery of x-rays, but he later died of colon cancer. The dean of Vanderbilt University Medical School sat for an x-ray of his skull. His hair fell out within three weeks. Others suffered from red inflamed skin, numbness, infection and pain. This "x-ray allergy" later was recognized to be Erythema, a direct result of overexposure to radiation.
During experiments in late 1896, Elaihu Thompson deliberately caused an x-ray dermatitis to form on his finger. He attributed the rash to over exposure to x-rays. In 1904, United States dentist, William Rollins published his essays called "Notes on X-Light". In these pages, Rollins warned of the inherent dangers of overexposure to x-rays. He was also later credited with inventing the lead housing that surrounds an x-ray tube. The housing prevented radiation from being emitted except through a small window that would open to expose and close to stop the exposure.
The benefits, of using x-rays in a controlled diagnostic setting, were seen immediately. For pioneers in the field the lessons were learned too late, but taken to heart. Today the fields of radiography and radiology are governed by many standard rules of practice and several governing bodies.
The main rule we follow is an anagram; "ALARA". This stands for

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