Early X-rays, continued

To the Editor:

Missing from the extended debate on whether Yale or Dartmouth produced the first X-ray after Roentgen (Letters, Summer 1998) is one significant piece of information.

Peter Spiegel wrote, “If Yale’s physicist, Arthur Wright pre-empted the Dartmouth group, it remains unreported and unsubstantiated, at least in the scientific literature.” In fact, Dr. Wright’s report was published in the Feb. 1, 1896, issue of Engineering and Mining Journal and in Electrical Engineer of February 5.

Wright wrote an additional report with more experiments in the March issue of the American Journal of Science. It is ironic that Wright’s report antedated a report from Harvard by four days.

Raymond A. Gagliardi, MD ’45, HS ’48-51
Historian, the American Roentgen Ray Society
Bloomfield Hills, Mich.