GREENWICH, CT – The Bruce Museum is pleased to host two special presentations that will provide fascinating insights into breakthroughs in the field of medicine in the nineteenth century – and how these once-revolutionary concepts were accepted as their risks and potential became fully understood.
The lectures complement an engrossing exhibition now on view in the Museum’s Science Gallery, The Dawn of Modern Medicine: Selections from the Medical Artifact Collection of M. Donald Blaufox, MD, PhD.
On Tuesday, January 15, 6:30 – 8:00 pm, Dr. Blaufox will speak about “Changing Concepts of Radioactivity and Health.” Dr. Blaufox is Professor and University Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine as well as a former Chairman of the American Board of Nuclear Medicine. His lecture will review the uses of radioactivity for selected medical and commercial purposes and the events that led to the recognition of its dangers.
On Tuesday, February 5, 6:30 – 8:00 pm. Dr. Paola Bertucci will present “Shocking Bodies: Electricity and Medicine in the 18th Century.” Dr. Bertucci is Associate Professor of History and History of Medicine and Curator of the History of Science and Technology Division, Peabody Museum, Yale University.
Reservations are required for both lectures and may be made by clicking on the “Reservations” button at brucemuseum.org. The lectures are free for Museum members and students with ID; $15 for non-members. The Museum will open at 6:20 pm; light refreshments will precede the lectures, which begin at 7 pm.
“Early in the nineteenth century, doctors were still bleeding patients, and electricity and radioactivity were thought to have great health benefits,” says Dr. Daniel Ksepka, Curator of Science at the Bruce Museum. “By the beginning of the twentieth century, we had sterilization, x-rays, blood pressure measurement, and countless other medical tools that we take for granted today. The Dawn of Modern Medicine exhibition gives visitors an overview of this remarkable transformation of medical instruments, and these talks by such expert speakers will address two of the most profound discoveries of the era: radiation and electricity.”
X-ray radiation was discovered by Wilhelm Röntgen, through his experiments with electricity and vacuum tubes in 1895. He demonstrated the potential of x-rays for diagnostic use by taking the first medical radiograph: an image of his wife’s hand. One year later, radioactivity was discovered by Henri Becquerel, and soon thereafter Marie Curie began her pioneering studies, which led to the discovery of the elements radium and polonium.
Radiation provided a momentous breakthrough in medical diagnosis by allowing physicians to observe the internal anatomy of patients without invasive procedures. Early on, the side effects of radiation were not appreciated and it was used with no regard to safety. Radioactive materials were also included in myriad cures and tonics, most of dubious value.
Therapeutic radiation would enjoy a revival in the field of cancer treatment later in the twentieth century, and the properties of radioactivity led to the birth of a new medical specialty: Nuclear Medicine.
The role of electricity in medicine has a similarly fascinating history. Electrical experiments were all the rage in the eighteenth century. Before the invention of electric bulbs, batteries, or currents, the vivid light of electric sparks was employed to stage spectacular attractions for learned and lay audiences. Dr. Bertucci’s talk on February 5 will illuminate the connections between the first uses of electricity in medicine and the fashionable performances that literally electrified audiences.
The Dawn of Modern Medicine: Selections from the Medical Artifact Collection of M. Donald Blaufox, MD, PhD, will be on view in the Museum’s Science Gallery through April 7, 2019. Says Dr. Blaufox of the unmatched collection of historic diagnostic instruments he has assembled over the past four decades: Some objects “were acquired simply because they have some medical significance, others for their beauty, but all of them because they help to understand the evolution of medicine over the centuries.”
The Bruce Museum is grateful for support of this exhibition from the Charles M. and Deborah G. Royce Exhibition Fund and the Connecticut Office of the Arts. For more information about the exhibition and related programs, contact Kate Dzikiewicz at 203-413-6747 or KDzikiewicz@Brucemuseum.org.
About the Bruce Museum
The Bruce Museum is located in a park setting just off I-95, exit 3, at 1 Museum Drive in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Museum is also a 5-minute walk from the Metro-North Greenwich Station. The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm; closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students with ID, and free for members and children less than five years. Individual admission is free on Tuesday. Free on-site parking is available and the Museum is accessible to individuals with disabilities. For additional information, call the Bruce Museum at 203-869-0376 or visit www.brucemuseum.org