The Early Clinical X-Ray in the United States
Patient Experiences and Public Perceptions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9089307 |
|---|---|
| Authors | M Lavine, Laura Corley Lavine (0000-0002-0262-359X, Mississippi State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 587-625 |
| Publication date | 2012-10-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-5045 • E-ISSN: 1468-4373 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jhmas/jrr047 |
| PMID | 21896562 |
| OpenAlex | W1966713424 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 5 |
The first x-ray machines were large, loud, sparking, smelly, and ostentatious devices, prone to mishap and injury even when fully under the control of the physicians who, in droves, invested money and prestige in them. Their bizarre and sometimes overwhelming presentation in the clinic reinforced the contemporary public understanding of x-rays as fantastically potent yet ambiguously helpful. As one of the icons of the new scientific medicine, x-rays bore much of the public's expectations for a technological panacea, a belief that was reinforced by the spectacle of their generation and their undeniable effect on the body. A quarter century later, refinement of the technology had made irradiation safer and more effective, but also made the operation of the machines themselves almost undetectable. This "domestication" of x-ray machines underscored their failure as a modern-day heroic medicine, while reinforcing an emergent understanding of radiation as a subtle, cumulative, and insidious threat.
Aesthetics · Alternative medicine · Ambivalence · Art · Distrust · Panacea (medicine) · Perception · Political science · Presentation (obstetrics) · Spectacle · Advances in Oncology and Radiotherapy · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Radiology practices and education · Social Psychology · Surgery · Twentieth Century Scientific Developments
| Citations per year | 0.3 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2016 - 2024 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |