Clarence Madison Dally (January 8, 1865 – October 2, 1904) was an American

glassblower Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a Blowpipe (tool), blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer'' ...

, noted as an assistant to

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

in his work on

X-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

s and as an early victim of radiation dermatitis and its complications. He is thought to be the first human death resulting from X-ray exposure.

Early life and education

Clarence Dally was born in Woodbridge,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, one of four brothers. He enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

at the age of sixteen, and served for six years. For a time he served as a gunner's mate on USS ''Enterprise''.

Glassblowing

After obtaining an honorable discharge he went to work at the Edison Lamp Works in Harrison with his father and brothers as a glassblower. Around 1890 he moved to the Edison Laboratory in West Orange to assist in experiments with the

incandescent lamp An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a filament until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb that is eith ...

Working with Edison

Edison using a calcium tungstate fluoroscope

Dally was a favored employee of Thomas Edison. He was entrusted to help demonstrate Edison's new fluoroscopic machine at the 1896 National Electric Light Association exhibition. Some sources list Clarence Dally as having been on standby with the X-ray equipment in Buffalo, New York, in case it was to be needed by doctors operating on President William McKinley after he was shot on September 6th, 1901. However, this was not Clarence Dally, but his brother, Charles, also an assistant of Edison. He was accompanied by fellow Edison employee Charles Luhr.

Edison X-ray focus tube

Following Röntgen's work on X-rays in 1895, Clarence and his brother Charles worked on the development of the Edison X-ray focus tube, developing the fluoroscope using

calcium tungstate Scheelite is a calcium tungstate mineral with the chemical formula calcium, Catungsten, Woxygen, O4. It is an important ore of tungsten (wolfram). Scheelite is originally named after Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742–1786). Well-form ...

. The Edison fluoroscope produced sharper images than the Röntgen fluoroscope, which used barium platinocyanide. At the time, the levels of X-rays produced were not believed to be dangerous. However, Edison noted how "the x-ray had affected poisonously my assistant, Mr. Dally."

Radiation effects

By 1900, Clarence Dally was suffering radiation damage to his hands and face sufficient to require time off work. Due to him being right handed, he used his left to test the beam from the machine. This caused his left hand to be affected before his right. In 1902, one

lesion A lesion is any damage or abnormal change in the tissue of an organism, usually caused by injury or diseases. The term ''Lesion'' is derived from the Latin meaning "injury". Lesions may occur in both plants and animals. Types There is no de ...

on his left wrist was treated unsuccessfully with multiple skin grafts and eventually his left hand was amputated. An

ulceration An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected Organ (biology), organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caus ...

on his right hand necessitated the amputation of four fingers. These procedures failed to halt the progression of his carcinoma, and despite the amputation of his arms at the elbow and shoulder, he died from mediastinal

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. Dally is thought to be the first American to die from the effects of experimentation with radiation. Following this, Thomas Edison abandoned his research on X-rays. In 1903, Edison said "Don't talk to me about X-rays; I am afraid of them."

Personal life

Dally was survived by his wife Maud and two sons, Ralph and Clarence.

Early life and education

Glassblowing

Working with Edison

Edison X-ray focus tube

Radiation effects

Personal life

See also

References

Further reading