X-Ray Measurements and Radium Protection Catch Up, 1914–22

Two contrasts between medical work with X-rays and with radium highlighted previously would fade during World War I and in the early 1920s. Under pressure from physicists, X-ray clinics would begin to use ionization measurements, thus closing the gap between clinical measurements of X-rays and radium. Prompted by public concern and the reaction of insurance companies as well as workmen’s compensation schemes, radium protection would grow in importance after the War and would become, like X-ray protection, the subject of special studies and recommendations at the national level in France, Britain, and the United States but not in Germany, where there was less sign of public concern. By contrast, the pattern of international cooperation would remain the same. Individual scientists and physicians read the literature published in other countries, often knew their colleagues, and sometimes reacted to work published abroad. Likewise, the various national and local professional organizations concerned with X-rays and radium followed the others’ proceedings and sometimes reacted with similar efforts on dosimetry and protection. But there were still no international norms on these issues, which remained defiantly complex and difficult even as the use of X-rays and radium expanded dramatically.