The late nineteenth century was a time of tremendous scientific growth, which included the birth of radium therapy—that is, treating cancer with radiation. Rontgen discovered X-rays in 1895 and Becquerel followed soon afterward in 1896 with his discovery of radioactivity. It did not take long for the physicians of the day to put the newly discovered energy source to work, with the first published report of the use of a radioactive substance to treat a disease occurring before the turn of the century.
The early use of radiation was almost laughably crude, with doctors simply exposing various neoplasms to a radiation source with no control over the amount of radiation an individual was exposed to or any sort of ability to focus the area of the exposure. Reports of cancers controlled or even cured by these new techniques were rampant, and radiation was felt to have great promise. Unfortunately, the initial exuberance was replaced with substantially less zeal when it was determined that radiation exposure could cause other medical problems in the future.
As discrete units of radiation began to be defined in the 1920s, radiation dosages could be quantified. This, coupled with animal experimentation, led to its more appropriate use in medicine and marked it as a promising therapy for cancer. More technologically advanced radiation delivery devices also allowed for deeper penetration into tissue, enabling the treatment of more varied tumors. The advent of better imaging studies and more refined computers has meant more precise radiation doses can be delivered, saving or at least improving countless lives.
