By Stanisław Leszczyński and Andrzej Urbanik
(Based on "The history of Polish radiology against the background of the world radiology", published by Medycyna Praktyczna, Kraków 2000)

The Beginnings of Radiology in Poland 19th century

Professor Antoni Cieszyński
(1882-1941)

Cieszyńskiego isometrics
(a diagram)

In 1907 a rule of isometrics was published, which was a breakthrough in stomatological radiology that which was coming into being; it made it possible to take real-size X-ray pictures of teeth. It was developed by the Pole Antoni Cieszyński, a professor of stomatology at the Lvov University. After he graduated, he worked in the Stomatological Institute in Munich. He was the author of many technical innovations, including a X-ray cassette for stereoscopic pictures, a holder for extraoral pictures, holders for intraoral pictures, a measurement device for direct reading the distance between the film and the focus, a cap with a plate making it easier to adjust the main beam for typical pictures of the skull. In 1907 he developed the first atlas of stomatological radiology in the world. Cieszyński's activity laid the foundations of stomatological radiology. In 1926 he published his own textbook of stomatological radiology.
Cieszyński A: Beitrage zu intraoralen Aufnahmen der Zahne. I. Die Einstellung des Huptstrahes bei intraoralen Zahnaufnamen mittels einwr Orientierungstafel, 1907
Cieszyński A: Beitrage zur Technik bei Zahnaufnahmen mittel Rontgenstralen. Cor. F. Z, 1907; 4: 289-303
Cieszyński A: Zastosowanie promieni Roentgena w dentystyce w celach rozpoznawczych (The use of roentgen rays for diagnostic purposes). Kroniki Dentystyczne (Stomatological Chronicles) 1908; 11:36
Cieszyński A: Verbesserte Modelle von Filmhaltern fur Zahnaufnahmen mittels Rontgenstrahlen. Deut. Zahnarztl. Woch., 1909; 8: 668-670
Cieszyński A: Atlas radiologiczny zdjęć dentystycznych. Pierwszy atlas zdjęć rentgenowskich dentystycznych, wystawiony z okazji X Zjazdu Lekarzy i Przyrodników Polskich we Lwowie w 1907-oryginał w zbiorach Dentyst. Uniw. Monachijskiego (A radiological atlas of stomatological pictures. The first radiological atlas of stomatological pictures - its original in the archives of the Stomatological University, Munich)

Professor Bronisław Sabat
(1871-1953)

Designs of endoradiological devices
(Sabat 1929)

The diagram of the mechanism
of action of roentgenokymography
(Sabat, 1911)

Professor Karol Mayer
(1882-1946)

Professor Mayer's work
(1916, Kraków)

Professor Mayer's work -
description of the method (1916, Kraków)
 

 
The first Polish radiologist who became a professor of radiology was Karol Mayer. In 1921 he obtained the position of the head of the Chair of Radiology in The Poznań University. Mayer graduated from the medical department of the Jagiellonian University, Kraków and since 1921 worked in the Kraków University Clinic directed by Prof. Jaworski. In 1914 he patented in Germany (Patentschrift Nr 274790) his own roentgen tube having two or more anodes (Fortschr. Roengenstr., 1916; 21:318. Mayer presented, as early as 1914, the principles of taking images using a tomography technique. In his book (Mayer K.: Radiologiczne rozpoznanie różniczkowe chorób serca i aorty z uwzględnieniem własnych metod badania /Radiological differential diagnostics of the heart and aorta diseases with the consideration of my own examination methods/) published by Gebethner & Wolf in 1916 (Kraków) he described the principles and practical uses (tomography images) of that technique, being considerably ahead of the world radiology. Unfortunately, that was not noticed in the scientific world.
In 1926 he presented an interesting application of his method - the possibility to detect heavy metal compounds in the alimentary tract and the liver (Badanie rentgenowskie i radowe w otruciach /Roentgen and radium examination in intoxications/).
In 1929 Mayer patented anti-scattering apertures of his own invention. The one having a shape of mobile sieve was particularly interesting. In 1930 he also presented an idea of prolonged luminescence of the roentgen screen using elevated temperature.

 
 
Professor Mayer's work
- tomography images

Maria Skłodowska-Curie
(1867-1934)

 
At that time in Paris a Pole Maria Skłodowska-Curie was active (born in Warsaw, on November 1867). She was one of the first women scientists to win worldwide fame. She had degrees (Sorbonne University, Paris) in mathematics and physics. Winner of two Nobel Prizes for Physics in 1903 (with her husband Pierre Curie) and for Chemistry in 1911 (alone), she performed pioneering studies with radium and polonium and considerably contributed to the understanding of radioactivity. She is a truly remarkable figure in the history of science and perhaps the most famous of all women scientists (the first woman in Europe to receive doctorate in sciences, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize for Physics, the first woman lecturer, the professor and head of a laboratory at the Sorbonne University of Paris, the first person ever to receive two Nobel Prizes, the first Nobel-Prize laureate mother of a Nobel-Prize laureate, the first woman who has been laid to rest under the famous dome of Pantheon in Paris).

When World War I broke out she left her laboratory and research work to dedicate herself to radiological diagnostics on the battlefield. The great daughter of the Polish nation wrote letter to the War minister of France, Langvin: "As I cannot serve my motherland, I will serve my country of adoption". She established a front-line radiological service which she directed and in which she worked. She organised a network of 200 permanent radiological laboratories as well as 20 mobile car-borne ones, in which about 1,1 million radiological examinations were performed. She organised numerous training courses for doctors and technicians. Skłodowska's activity was of tremendous significance during the war, but it also contributed to the common application of X-rays in French medicine.

Skłodowska has organized radiological courses for American Army radiologists. She was the first woman to receive a Gold Medal from the Radiological Society of North America in 1922, and the American College
of Radiology in 1931.

Maria Skłodowska-Curie became an honorary president of III International Congress of Radiology. As the first person she obtained the title of an honorary member of the Polish Medical Society of Radiology.

Maria Sklodowska-Curie with her daughter and student Irene Curie teach American Army radiologists in 1918.
 
 

Programme of XII Congress of Polish Doctors and Naturalists (1925, Warszawa)

The Polish Radiological Society was established during the XII Congress of Polish Doctors and Naturalists (13-15 July 1925) in Warszawa. Professor Karol Mayer became its first president.

Prof. Karol Mayer - the first president of Polish Radiological Society

Professor Zygmunt Grudziński
(1870-1929) 

 
In 1926 the Society started to issue the scientific magazine "Polish Radiological Review" (previously, since 1907, a section Radiology was edited in the paper "Nowiny Lekarskie" issued in Poznań). The first editor-in-chief was professor Zygmunt Grudziński, an outstanding Polish radiologists. He developed a unique method of localising foreign bodies in the eyeball that has been used until now.
Grudziński Z.: Nowa uproszczona metoda rentgenograficzna dokładnego umiejscowienia ciał obcych metalicznych w gałce ocznej-metoda nakładania schematów (A new simplified radiographic method of precise localising foreign bodies in the eyeball-the method of picture superimposition). Polski Przegląd Radiologii (Polish Radiological Review). 1929; IV, 1:45-80).

Polski Przegląd Radiologii (Polish Radiological Review); first issue - 1926
 

Advertisements of Polish companies
producing radiological equipment
A Polish-made roentgen device
(the Walkowski Company, 1939)

 
The first Polish devices generating roentgen rays were assembled with elements from the equipment of physical or chemical laboratories. At the turn of the XIX century mass production devices were started to be purchased, mainly those manufactured by German companies, and later by French and American ones. With the development of roentgen diagnostics attempts to improve and manufacture the devices were made in the Polish lands, too. In 1912 in Warsaw the production of portable devices (Induktor-Progress) was assumed by the company Trojanowski i Markson; it manufactured them until 1914. A small roentgen device was constructed in 1925 in the company Woźniak - it was awarded a gold medal at the medical exhibition in Warsaw in 1925. In 1934 in Warsaw a large factory Rurix producing roentgen tubes was established. A number of smaller factories produced roentgen devices, too like that of Jan Babicki, the Borkowski brothers, Zygmunt Lisiecki and Feliks Walkowski.
Besides, in several Polish companies foreign-invented devices were assembled.
There was a number of companies producing accessories of elements of roentgen devices. Many of the products were designed by Polish doctors or engineers. The most interesting ones were the following:

• in 1913/14 Prof. Antoni Cieszyński developed a number of devices facilitating radiological stomatological examinations;
• in 1914 Dr Henryk Wachtel developed a localiser used in the case of double picture with the film shift, whereas in 1917 - a bathycopsometer, or a vertical depth scale for roentgen procedures (removing foreign bodies);
• in 1922 Henryk Golberg developed a device for ion tube regeneration;
• in 1925 Assist. Prof. Zygmunt Grudziński developed a modification of the so-called Peltason's screen that protected the radiologist against the patient coughing during the X-raying;
• in 1925 Dr Józef Jaxa Chania-Dębicki developed a design of a device for radiological examinations in veterinary medicine; the design was presented at the International Congress of Radiology in 1925 in London;
• in 1926 the engineer Jan Bajoński developed a tube designed for high-voltage devices;
• in 1926 the engineer Tadeusz Skrzywan developed a good modification of roentgen transformer; the design was purchased by the company Siemens;
• in 1927 Franciszek Woźniak developed a device for the examination of the duodenum;
• Zygmunt Lisiecki's company produced cassettes for X-ray films, a stand for Metalix lamps and a device called pointgraph (it reduced by four times a scheme drawn on the pane of the roentgen screen with a dermatograph);
• in 1935 the radiologist professor Stanisław Januszkiewicz obtained a patent (No. 218782 of 19.08.1935) for the method of limiting the ionising radiation beam using the visible light, which is now commonly used in the X-ray apertures;
• in the years 1936-39 the grid designed by the engineer Gustaw Choroszczak surpassed foreign constructions in terms of quality.

Czajkowski A: Przemysł obcy a pierwociny wytwórczości rentgenotechnicznej polskiej (Foreign industry and the origin of the Polish roentgen industry). Polski Przegląd Radiologii (Polish Radiological Review) 1928; 3:78-88
Leszczyński S: The history of the Polish radiology against the background of the world radiology". Publ. Medycyna Praktyczna, Kraków 2000
 

The first factory of photographic paper in the Polish lands was established by Piotr Lebiedziński in 1888 in Warsaw. Photographic paper used for radiological examinations was manufactured there, too. In 1933 the factory was restructured and modernised (it was called FOTON) - films and reagents used in radiography were produced in it. In 1933-36 in Warsaw the factory FOTO came into being (based on the tradition of the factory of upholstery and paper Franaszek that had existed since 1829), which produced photographic materials. After 1939 during the Second World War the factory FOTO took over the equipment and employees of the then destroyed factory FOTON. Radiological films were also produced by the factory Alfa in Bydgoszcz as well as the Poznań company Ewi.
 

Professor Witold Zawadowski
(1889-1980)

 
In the 1930s an important role in the development of the Polish radiology was played by professor Witold Zawadowski. Intensive training of young radiologists was started and research work was intensified. Zawadowski's work "O cieniach towarzyszących przyżebrowych" (The accompanying paracostal shadows) introduced his name into the world medical literature and became a classical source referred to in many textbooks of radiology world-wide.
Zawadowski W: O cieniach towarzyszących przyżebrowych. Polski (The accompanying paracostal shadows) Polski Przegląd Radiologii (Polish Radiological Review) 1931; 6:399-432
Zawadowski W. Uber die schattenbildunger an der Lungen-Weichteilgrenze. Fortschr. Geb. Rontgenstr, 1936; 53: 273-291

 
In 1931 Polish radiologists were offered a comprehensive and modern textbook "Zarys rentgenologji - podręcznik dla lekarzy i słuchaczy medycyny" (An outline of roentgenology - a textbook for doctors and medical students) (published by Gebether & Wolf) by Dr Stanisław Rubinrot.