Radiology of the Lower Extremity

Abstract

While the field of forensic medicine is said to have begun at some indefinite time five or six centuries ago, the origins of forensic radiology can be described more precisely. Wilhem Conrad Röntgen (Fig. 1)—professor of physics, director of the Physics Institute, and Rector of the University of Würzburg—observed an unusual phenomenon while experimenting with cathode ray tubes on November 8, 1895. After 50 d of intensive investigation, he determined that he had discovered a new kind of ray (“eine neue Arte von Strahlen”), one that could penetrate solid, opaque materials and produce photographic representations of their contents. He called them “X-rays” because “x” was the symbol of the unknown. A manuscript was produced and immediately accepted for presentationat the January 23, 1896, meeting of the Würzburg Physical Medicine Society (1). As sometimes happens today, word of his findings were “leaked” to the popular press and flashed by telegraph and cable throughout the electrified world, reaching New York on January 8, 1896 (2). The potential for applying this new ray to the task of forensic problem solving was recognized almost immediately.