ABSTRACT
An eminent radiologist referred to the then newest generation of uro-angiographic X-ray contrast agents or contrast media. Such a contrast agent is a sort of injectable ink, transparent to ordinary light but opaque to X-rays, and is used for radiological diagnosis in man. The vision of the “car-friendly city” yielded to that of the “car-free city center” before the former was realized in a major way. If what has been said is accurate, then the emergence of contrast agent technology too must have been guided by a vision. Technology is a broad notion. The case of contrast agent technology falls into the category defined by marketable human-made objects. The sociological analysis at hand will use history as its substrate. Numerous more or less thoroughly researched histories of contrast agent technology have been published, some of them by authors who were protagonists of the described events. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
