ABSTRACT

When radioactive substances were first discovered, the harmful effects of large amounts of radiation were not known and detection instrumentation was not considered. Many scientists who studied radioactivity were exposed to harmful amounts. When Xrays began to be used by doctors, many reported that patients who were exposed to Xrays suffered burns. In 1896, the physicist Elihu Thompson deliberately exposed his finger to X-rays so that he could accurately report on the phenomenon of X-ray burns. Thomas Edison was experimenting with X-rays in 1896 when one of his assistants became fatally ill from over-exposure to radiation. In 1906, Henri Becquerel, the discoverer of radioactivity, was accidentally burned by a radioactive substance he was carrying in his pocket. When Pierre Curie heard of Becquerel’s injury, he taped a radioactive substance to his own arm to observe the injuries it would cause.