Forensic radiology in German-speaking area

Abstract

During the evening of the 8 November in 1895, WilhelmRoentgen, while he was alone in his laboratory at theInstitute of Physics of Julius Maximilians University inWuerzburg, discovered a, so far unknown, kind of radiation.Roentgen called this kind of radiation ‘‘X-rays’’ where the‘‘X’’ stood for the unknown.The famous anatomist Geheimrat von Koelliker thenproposed, on the occasion of a speech for the Physical-Medical Society of Wuerzburg in 1896, to name the X-raysafter its discoverer ‘‘Roentgen-Strahlen’’.The first X-ray images were made on the 22 Novemberwhen Wilhelm Roentgen took a picture of his wife’s (BerthaRoentgen) hand with an exposure time of about 20 min.Many people sensed in those first pictures, which visualizedthe human skeleton, a peculiar preview of death.On 28 December 1895, W. Roentgen submitted his manu-script titled: ‘‘A new kind of radiation’’ to the Physical-Medical Society of Wuerzburg. In that publication, Roent-gen already speaks about a possible application of hisdiscovery in medicine (Figs. 1 and 2).The discovery of Roentgen had an immediate and enor-mous impact, impeding also upon the field of forensicmedicine. Because, just a few weeks later the New YorkSun wrote that Roentgen had already used the new radiationto take pictures of broken bones or projectiles within thebody.InJanuary 1896, theWiener Presse andthe FrankfurterZeitung described a possible clinical application very con-cretely and detailed, e.g. that using the new techniquecomplicated fractures and foreign bodies can be visualizedin a non-invasive manner.Following this, fantasy inspired ideas were born to use thenew X-rays to take pictures of the human soul or of tele-pathic features. Those thoughts reached a maximum, whenan entrepreneur in London, suggested the addition of leadedthreads to women’s underwear to prevent a divesting per-spective using the dreaded ‘‘X-ray-View’’.In 1896 further applications followed and RoentgensX-ray images entered the courtrooms of Northern Americaand England as evidence of bullets within living anddeceased humans [1]. That was the hour of birth of a con-nection between radiology and forensic medicine leading toa clinical–forensic radiology for the documentation of for-ensic findings in the living and to a forensic–pathologicalradiology in the investigation of the deceased.The newly discovered technology in Wuerzburg has alsobeen used to serve as evidence to clarify an assumedmalpractice in the case of an overlooked fracture in Denver(USA) [1].In Munich, Anger had the idea to use an X-ray image ofthe bony structures of the foot for the estimation of age [1].Today, forensic age estimations are still based upon X-rayimages of the joints of the hand, according to Greulich andPyle [2].B. Koenig founded the field of forensic odontology bymaking the first intraoral X-ray images of the teeth [1].The same year Roentgen himself started the industrial,non-destructive, radiological analysis of materials and pro-ducts. As an enthusiastic hunter he additionally made X-raypictures of his shotgun. According his statement, this imageof the shotgun was his best X-ray image. Following this, theDepartment of Defense in Germany and Austria inducted hismethod as an investigation method for weapons [1].Today’s airport luggage scanners are also based onRoentgens invention because it required just 1 year untilthe French customs started to X-ray suspected smugglingpackages [1].Therefore, it is not surprising, that Roentgen received thefirst Nobel Prize in physics of the Royal Swedish Academyof Science on 10 December in 1901. The reclusive Roentgendeclined the invitation to Nobel Prize presentation, and alsothe patent of his discovery. He consigned the Prize of at thattime, 50.000 Krone, to the University of Wuerzburg.Also very early on, during the 1920s, the first proposalsappeared for the application of Roentgen’s method foridentification, namely from A. Schueller. He proposed theuse of a comparison of paranasal sinuses for this [3].