

The effect, of course, was due to the uranium itself, rather than any phosphorescence. One must conclude from these experiments that the phosphorescent substance in question emits rays which pass through the opaque paper and reduces silver salts. If one places between the phosphorescent substance and the paper a piece of money or a metal screen pierced with a cut-out design, one sees the image of these objects appear on the negative. When one then develops the photographic plate, one recognizes that the silhouette of the phosphorescent substance appears in black on the negative. On developing the film he was surprised to find the film had been 'fogged'. Becquerel had left some potassium uranyl sulfate in contact with photographic film that was sealed in black paper to protect it from light.
#Cancer element skin
Although this was unsuccessful, by November that year x-rays were being used to cure superficial cancers, such as skin cancers, which were more accessible to the radiation.Ī month or two after Roentgen's discovery, Henri Becquerel was working on the phosphorescence of uranium salts. In January 1896, Chicago physician Emile Grubbe, having noted the destructive effect of the rays on his own skin, applied them in the hope of "burning out" a patient's breast cancer. Repeated exposure damaged their tissues, sometimes causing cancer.

This last finding was discovered by chance as the early researchers were unaware of the energy of x-rays.
