Radiotherapy

SOON after the discovery of x-rays by Roentgen in 1895, an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association 1 suggested that the new x-rays might have some therapeutic potential. The realization of this potential, however, has been a slow process, taking most of the 20th century and requiring the parallel development of the disciplines of radiobiology and radiation physics to provide the scientific foundation for therapeutic radiology. Another requisite was the development of therapeutic radiology or radiation oncology as a distinct specialty separate from diagnostic radiology. With the introduction of megayoltage therapy equipment into clinical use in the late . . .