The deadly experiment made Edison afraid of X-rays

The death of his close assistant caused Edison to become afraid of X-rays and stop researching fluorescent lamps.

In December 1895, German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen sent the journal of the Würzburg Medical and Physical Society a preliminary report describing the discovery of "a new type of ray". He named this previously undiscovered type of radiation X-rays . According to him, it can penetrate wooden blocks and books thousands of pages thick, even human hands, recording the shadow of the joints inside, according to Amusing Planet .

Edison peered through fluorescent glasses to observe Dally's hand under X-rays. (Photo: Edward P. Thompson/Wellcome Images)

Within weeks, the news spread around the world, sparking hundreds of discussions in newspapers and magazines about the new discovery and its potential applications in medicine and physics. However, radiation claimed the lives of hundreds of scientists around the world over the next few decades. The potentially destructive effects of Roentgen rays on living tissue were predicted as early as March 1896 by Italian physicist Angelo Battelli. Some other engineers also expressed concerns, but X-ray detection opens up so many possibilities that scientists are willing to put concerns aside in the search for new applications of this breakthrough discovery. . Clarence Madison Dally was the first of them.

Dally was born in Woodbridge, New Jersey, in 1865, just as the American Civil War ended. His father was a glassblower at the Edison Lamp Works factory in nearby Harrison, making light bulbs for Edison. When Dally was 17 years old, he joined the navy, serving six years before being discharged. Returning to his hometown of Woodbridge in 1888, Dally worked with his father and three brothers at Edison Lamp Works.

When Roentgen announced the discovery of X-rays in 1895, Edison quickly realized the importance of the discovery and saw it as a potential tool to improve incandescent lamps. Edison was particularly interested in one of Roentgen's experiments, in which he coated a glass screen with barium platinocyanide crystals and exposed it to X-rays. The crystals will glow in the dark when X-rays reach them. Edison believed that if he found the right fluorescent material, he could make the glass screen glow long enough to illuminate the whole room.

Edison called young Daily to be an assistant in new research at his laboratory in East Orange, New Jersey. At that time, he became a skilled glassblower and was very loved by his boss. Daily produced thousands of Crookes tubes and experimented with more than 1,000 different compounds. Dally personally tested them by placing his left hand between an X-ray source and a fluorescent screen, exposing him to an unsafe dose of X-rays. Ultimately, Dally discovered that calcium tungsten glowed nearly 12,000 times brighter than the barium platinocyanide that Roentgen used. Edison discovered the fluorescent lamp, but at a high cost.

Edison discovered he had difficulty focusing in his left eye. Ophthalmologists believe that the cause comes from using fluorescent lenses for a long time. This device uses X-rays to excite the fluorescent compound and has a hole to look into. Edison reminds Dally of the dangers of continuing to use Crookes tubes, but Dally ignores the warning and insists on using the strongest tubes he can find.

Not long after, Dally discovered that his hair was falling out, followed by his eyebrows and eyelashes. His face became wrinkled and his left hand was painfully swollen . "Then atherosclerosis appeared, spreading to the smallest blood vessels in his hands," said WB Graves, Dally's doctor. "He wasn't paralyzed, but the blood vessels gradually drained away nutrients from the tissue and prevented the swelling in his left hand from recovering. The right hand was also affected, even including the fingertips, although the condition was not severe. as important as the left hand".

Dally doesn't believe his condition is life-threatening. When his left hand started having problems, he used his right hand. At night, he slept with his hands soaked in water to relieve the burning sensation. Like many researchers of the time, Dally assumed he would recover once he stopped working with the tubes.

In 1900, the lesions on Dally's hand developed into cancer, spreading from his hand to his biceps. After many attempts at treatment, the doctor had to amputate his left arm. Dally also lost four fingers on his right hand, leaving only the thumb. Despite these surgeries, doctors were unable to stop the cancer from spreading. Dally died four years later, in 1904, from mediastinal cancer.

Dally's death caused Edison to become afraid of X-rays. After that, he stopped researching fluorescent lamps. "I don't want to know anything more about X-rays. In experienced hands, they are useful tools for surgery, helping to identify objects that are out of sight, such as appendicitis surgery." But they are also deadly in the hands of inexperienced people, even those who use them continuously for experimentation," Edison said.