Dawson Fyers Duckworth Turner, FRSE, FRCPE (1857–1928) was a British pioneer of radiology and patron of the arts, who died of radiation related cancer.

Early life

He was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in 1857 the son of Rev Dawson Turner and attended

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by royal charter, to replace the town's Saxon collegiate foundations which were disestablished in the sixteenth century, Shrewsb ...

in Shropshire. He then studied at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

in Nova Scotia, Canada where he graduated BA in 1884. Returning to Britain Turner studied at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

where he graduated in Medicine (MB CM with honours) in 1888 and attained his MD 1890. He became MRCPE in 1890 and was elected fellow (FRCPE) in 1891.

Early medical career

After serving as resident physician in the

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) was established in 1729, and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest voluntary hospital in the United Kingdom, and later on, the Empire."In Com ...

under Sir James Affleck he was appointed Lecturer in Physics at the

Edinburgh Extramural School of Medicine Extramural medical education in Edinburgh began over 200 years before the university medical faculty was founded in 1726 and distance learning, extramural teaching continued thereafter for a further 200 years. Extramural is academic education wh ...

Surgeons' Hall Surgeons' Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland, is the headquarters of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd). It houses the Surgeons' Hall Museum, and the library and archive of the RCSEd. The present Surgeons' Hall was designed by William ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. In addition he acted as clinical tutor in clinical medicine at the Extramural School at Surgeons' Hall.

Radiology career

When X-rays were discovered by Röntgen in 1895 Dawson Turner was one of the first to appreciate their possible application in medicine.Obituary. Dawson Turner. BR Med J 1929 Jan 5 p48 He built an early X-ray apparatus in his home at 32 George Square, Edinburgh. On 5 February 1896 he demonstrated X-rays at a meeting of the Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Society.Calder J.F. ''The History of Radiology in Scotland''.Edinburgh, Dunedin Academic Press p4 In 1901 he became Physician in Charge of X-Rays at

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) was established in 1729, and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest voluntary hospital in the United Kingdom, and later on, the Empire."In Comi ...

remaining in this role until ill-health caused his partial retirement in 1911 from which time he became "Extra Electrician" until his full retirement in 1925. He was one of the first, in 1902, to use X-rays in the treatment of cancer. In 1910 he was living at 37

George Square, Edinburgh George Square () is a city square in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is in the south of the city centre, adjacent to the Meadows. It was laid out in 1766 outside the overcrowded Old Town, and was a popular residential area for Edinburgh's better-off c ...

. In 1911 he was one of the earliest recorded persons using radium to treat

lymphosarcoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

. His surgical colleague Alexis Thomson inserted an aluminium case, which enclosed a glass tube containing

radium bromide Radium bromide is the bromide salt of radium, with the formula RaBr2. It is produced during the process of separating radium from uranium ore. This inorganic compound was discovered by Pierre and Marie Curie in 1898, and the discovery sparked a ...

, into the tumour below the clavicle. Turner, over the next few days, exposed the involved lymph nodes above the clavicle to radium bromide contained in a second tube. There was no trace of the tumour when the patient was examined at three months or again at one year after treatment.

Honours received

In 1901 he succeeded William Ivison Macadam as President of the

Royal Scottish Society of Arts The Royal Scottish Society of Arts is a learned society in Scotland, dedicated to the study of science and technology. It was founded as The Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts in Scotland by Sir David Brewster in 1821 and dedicate ...

(RSSA). In 1906 Turner was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were James Affleck, Sir William Turner,

Cargill Gilston Knott Cargill Gilston Knott FRS, FRSE LLD (30 June 1856 – 26 October 1922) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was a pioneer in seismological research. He spent his early career in Japan. He later became a Fellow of the Royal Society, ...

and

James Gordon MacGregor James Gordon MacGregor, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE LLD (31 March 1852 in Halifax (former city), Halifax, Colony of Nova Scotia, British North America – 21 May 1913 in Edinburgh) was a Canadian physicist. He was described as "brillian ...

. He was Vice President of the Roentgen Society.

Later life

His Edinburgh address until retiral due to ill-health was 37 George Square. The building was demolished by

in the 1960s to make way for George Square Library. Early in his career he had lost two fingers of his left hand as a result of exposure to radiation which had also resulted in the loss of an eye. For the last years of his life he did not enjoy good health and his symptoms were presumed to result from radiation exposure. He died of radiation related cancer at

Godalming Godalming ( ) is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settl ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

on Christmas Day 1928. His is one of the 14 British names of the 169 included on the ''

Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations The Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations (also known as the X-ray Martyrs' Memorial) is a memorial in Hamburg, Germany, commemorating those who died due to their work with the use of radiation, particularly X-rays, in medicine. ...

'' erected in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Germany in 1936. In 1931

erected a memorial plaque to his memory in the radiology department.University of Edinburgh Journal, vol 4, p.48

Family

He was married to Emily Barry, daughter of William Barry of

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

Selected publications

*Turner, Dawson. ''A Manual of Practical Medical Electricity: The Röntgen Rays, Finsen Light, Radium and Its Radiations and High-Frequency Currents''. New York: William Wood & Co, 1904 *Turner, Dawson F. D. ''Radium; its Physics and Therapeutics'' Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. London. Baillière, Tindall & Cox: London, 1914. *Turner, Dawson. ''Some Reflections Based Upon the Work Done in the Electrical Department of the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh''. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 1 (1908): 118-125. *Turner, Dawson. ''A Case of Myeloma of the Sternum Treated by Radium''. British Medical Journal. 2.2849 (1915): 218 *Turner, Dawson. ''Cancer and the Roentgen Rays''. British Medical Journal. 2.2178 (1902): 976 *Turner, Dawson. ''Report on the Radium Treatment at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, During the Year 1916''. Archives of Radiology and Electrotherapy. 22.8 (1918): 251-257 *Turner, Dawson. ''The Dosage of Radium''. British Medical Journal. 1.3238 (1923): 100-101

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Dawson 1857 births 1928 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Medical doctors from Liverpool British radiologists X-ray pioneers Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Medical School Physicians of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh