1895

On November 8, Roentgen discovers X-rays (Kevles, 16ff.); invention of fluoroscope (Ott, 97). In 1896, Edison markets an improved fluoroscope, and NY surgeon William Tillinghast Bull first surgeon to use X-ray as operating guide (Kevles, 33-36); in May 1896, Italy first nation to use x-rays on battlefield, then British in 1897, then US in 1898 in Spanish-American war, where “Wartime use of X-rays gave the specialty of surgery a boost” (40). Outside the military, dentistry only specialty to adopt x-rays immediately into practice (43).