Glass X-ray tube
- Made:
- 1895-1900 in unknown place
Glass X-ray tube, fitted with regulator and a valve tube, 1895-1900
In 1895 a device similar to this one passed electricity through a vacuum to generate something revolutionary: X-rays. Medical researchers experimented using these radioactive rays on various skin conditions and types of tuberculosis, as well as cancer. They had varying degrees of success. X-ray treatment was expensive and sometimes left burns on a patient’s skin. It also posed risks to staff administering the treatment, who faced repeated exposure to the radiation.
Details
- Category:
- Radiomedicine
- Collection:
- Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection
- Object Number:
- A196
- Materials:
- tube, glass, anticathode, nickel, anticathode, copper, regulator, aluminium, cathode, aluminium, anode, aluminium and valve, aluminium
- Measurements:
-
overall: 240 mm x 375 mm x 120 mm,
- type:
- x-ray tube
- credit:
- Holmes, F
