Brief history of Radiology
World Radiology Day is celebrated every year on 8 November as the profession remembers its roots as we acknowledge the discovery of xrays in 1895 by Professor Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen.
Although the public mainly focus on diagnostic radiology when thinking of “x-rays”, there are many aspects of “X-rays or Radiology”.
One year after the discovery of xrays, Emil Herman Grubbe treated a breast cancer patient with radiation therapy.
Medical ultrasound began in 1942 during WW2, where the first published work was of the transmission of ultrasound investigations of the brain by Dr KT Dussik.
This was closely followed by the recognition of nuclear medicine as a diagnostic speciality in the 1950’s, although the first recorded use of radionuclides in medicine, was in 1913 by Georg de Hevesy.
Years passed with no substantial new developments until 1971 and 1977 when CT and MRI was discovered.
The future of radiology is an exciting one: innovations in AI and interventional radiology, amongst many other things, present an important opportunity to provide exceptional patient care.



2024 Theme: Seeing the unseen


