ABSTRACT

A scientific industrial complex preceded the medical industrial complex. The California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of California, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in particular led the way in building high-voltage technologies and the industry-aligned research university. All three attracted donors by emphasizing medical as well as industrial use of their new machines, and they connected with physicians willing to send patients for treatment in their laboratories. Caltech was the first of the three institutions to build a supervoltage device and an associated clinical service. A multitude of photographs in the medical literature documented stunning reductions of skin and other superficial tumors treated with radiation. Many patients—and therapists—suffered severe bodily harm and early death from radiation. But it was less threatening to see flaws in past practices than it was to criticize contemporary practices.