'Unveiling' the painful truth behind the experiment that created the world's first X-rays

X-rays have helped modern medicine a lot, but the early experiments to discover them cost human lives.

In December 1985, German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen submitted a preliminary report to the journal of the Würzburg Medical-Physiological Society, describing the discovery of 'a new kind of ray .' The previously undiscovered radiation, which he called X-rays, could penetrate blocks of wood and thousands of pages of books, even the flesh of a human hand, creating the shadowy outline of bones. Within weeks, the news spread around the world, sparking countless journal discussions about the discovery and its potential applications in biomedical science.

The damaging effects of Roentgen rays on living tissue were first speculated by Italian physicist Angelo Battelli as early as March 1896. Other engineers raised concerns, but the discovery of X-rays opened up so many possibilities that some scientists were willing to put their concerns aside to investigate the breakthrough. One of the first to pay the price for the discovery was Clarence Madison Dally .

Dally was born in Woodbridge, New Jersey, in 1865. His father was a glassblower at the Edison Lamp Works in nearby Harrison, which manufactured light bulbs. At age 17, he enlisted in the Navy and served six years before being discharged. Returning home to Woodbridge in 1888, Dally began working with his father and three brothers at the Edison Lamp Works.

Edison looks through a fluoroscope to observe X-rays falling on the hand of Clarence Madison Dally. (Photo: Wellcome Images).

The first X-ray photograph was taken by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen.

When Roentgen announced his discovery of X-rays in 1895, Thomas Edison quickly recognized their importance and thought they could be used to improve the incandescent lamp. Edison was particularly interested in one of Roentgen's experiments, in which the researcher coated a glass screen with a barium platinocyanide crystal and exposed it to X-rays. The crystal glowed in the dark when exposed to X-rays. Edison was convinced that if he could find a suitable fluorescent material, he could make the screen bright enough to light up an entire room.

It is known that Edison was attracted by the first primitive X-ray images of another scientist and decided to study this new technology. He needed a hand to experiment but he could not use his own hand as a model because he had to observe as well as use his hands to work.

Therefore, his assistant, Dally Clarence - who was very interested in X-ray technology, always felt ready to become Edison's experimenter. According to records, while Dally always wanted to test the most powerful X-ray tubes, Edison tried to test the less powerful ones.

Because of this, Dally's left hand, after repeated exposure to radiation, was always covered in burns. However, curiosity about new discoveries always fascinated people. Edison's other assistants said that whenever they saw Dally, they saw his hands doing experiments. A few years later, Edison invented the first fluorescent lamp that helped see bones under the skin.

Despite his worsening condition, Dally still wanted to contribute to science. At only 35 years old, Dally's hair had fallen out, and he looked older than his peers. His left hand was always red and swollen, and sores spread to his arms and face. Edison wrote down the changes in his assistant's condition in his diary every day.

Dally's left hand, after repeated exposure to radiation, is always covered in burns.

Because his left hand was too weak, Dally used his stronger right hand to continue the experiment. However, after a short time, his right hand was also constantly red and painful, forcing him to soak it in cold water every night to ease the pain and to be able to sleep. A few years later, doctors performed surgery to take skin from Dally's leg and graft it onto his decaying left hand, but the results were not good.

According to the results of modern science, because of radiation exposure, Dally got skin cancer. He had to amputate his left hand, and a few months later, he had to amputate four fingers on his right hand. In 1903, he had his right hand amputated. A year later, he passed away at the age of 39, eight years after he was first exposed to X-rays. In his later years, despite having to amputate his hand and no longer working in the laboratory, Dally still expressed to Edison that he could support scientific experiments until the end of his life.

After the death of his assistant, Edison suffered quite a psychological trauma.

"Don't talk to me about X-rays," he said.

"I'm afraid of them."