Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Excerpt from Radiation Evangelists: Technology, Therapy, and Uncertainty at the Turn of the Century by Jeffrey Womack From the Introduction Though sometimes portrayed as merely serendipitous, the discovery of new sources of ionizing radiation in 1895 and 1896 was actually the predictable result of ongoing research into cathode rays and other electrical phenomena made possible by increasingly powerful electrical equipment and new developments in vacuum tube technology. The application of radiation for therapeutic ends also represented a natural progression; individuals working with radiation could not help but notice that it affected their bodies, causing burns and other physiological results. The observation of results, however, did not imply understanding. The intermingled triumph and disaster of early radiation therapy turns on a simple fact: people figured out that X-ray and radium treatment did work, in the sense of visibly reducing tumors or infections, long before they understood how it worked. To understand why X-ray exposure could burn skin or cause hair to fall out would require a new understanding of matter, energy, and human bodies.

As a result, early radiation therapy operated on a kind of faith, tapping into an unseen and mysterious power to deliver miracles of healing.