Dr John Hall-Edwards, Pioneering radiologist

This year is the centenary of Dr Hall-Edwards death. Hall Edwards was born in Birmingham, studied medicine in the city before starting of as a general practitioner. After hearing about Rontgen’s discovery of X- Rays in 1895 he decided to devote his life to this new field of medicine becoming an international famous radiologist based in Birmingham. He was a pioneer in military radiology during his time of service in the Boer War. In later life he sadly succumbed to the harmful effects of radiation eventually having his hand amputated.

In this talk the early days of Rontgen’s discovery will be described and the life of Hall-Edwards and his numerous contributions to radiology and the city will be presented in an illustrated presentation.

About the lecturer

Dr Arpan K Banerjee (MBBS) FRCP FRCR FBIR FRSM is a retired consultant radiologist from Birmingham who is currently a medical historian and writer and Chair of the International Society for the History of Radiology (ISHRAD) He has been researching the life of Hall Edwards for 25 years.

He is the author/co-author of around 50 medical papers, over 100 essays/reviews and 8 books including ‘Classic Papers in Diagnostic Radiology’ (2004) and ‘The History of Radiology’ (2003 OUP). His latest book project was co-editing and contributing to ‘Pioneers in Early Radiology at the time of Rontgen’ published in Paris 2024. He was the Crookshank lecturer and medallist of the Royal College of Radiologists in 2023.

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