I like to collect things. One of the collections I’m most proud of is my small collection of radiology related things. There’s not much in it, but I enjoy each piece I have. I try to acquire new items when I can, although nowadays with service engineers having to return all the bits they take out, it’s a little harder.
My favourite item is the hand held fluoroscope that I acquired off E-bay. It’s the oldest piece I have. It gives me a connection to how radiology used to be done. I just find it cool to hold it, and imagine how someone would have used it 60 or 70 years ago. Unfortunately it doesn’t have any labels on it, so I have no idea just how old it is.
Go visit my museum of radiology artifacts.
Hi Eugene, Saw mention of your blog in Physics Today. Re radiological antifacts….when I was a kid, shoe stores had x-ray machines to let you could view your feet inside the shoes you were trying on. I recall they had two viewing ports, one for the salesman and one for the customer. As little kids in the 1930’s, my brother and I had great fun looking at our green, x-rayed feet and wiggling our toes. Hopefully, no serious damaged occurred, but at age 73, I’m still watchfully waiting! Herman Heyn, Baltimore , Md.
Cool, hadn’t realized there was a link to it from Physics Today. I saw one of those shoe x-ray machines for auction on EBay last year, and would have loved to add it to my collection. The auction ended up too expensive for my wallet though.