Wolfram Conrad Fuchs (1865–1908) was a German-born

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

who became a pioneer in

radiography Radiography is an imaging technology, imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical ("diagnostic" radiog ...

. He opened the first x-ray laboratory in the United States in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and had completed over 1400 x-ray examinations by 1896. His work was critical to the history of radiation protection. He was the father of Arthur Wolfram Fuchs (1895 - 1962), the inventor of the fixed kilovoltage technique of radiography.

Early life and education

Fuchs was born in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1865 to Julius and Wilhelmina Fuchs. The family emigrated to Chicago in 1870. He returned to Germany to study electrical engineering at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

and graduated in 1889. He then went on to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Upon returning to the United States, Fuchs completed his post-graduate work at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

in Boston.

Radiography work

Shortly after

Wilhelm Röntgen Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (; 27 March 1845 – 10 February 1923), sometimes Transliteration, transliterated as Roentgen ( ), was a German physicist who produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays. As ...

's discovery of x-rays, Fuchs was traveling in Germany and was interested in the potential implications x-rays could have for electrical engineering. Meanwhile, in Chicago, Dr. Friedrich Cort Hamisch was also becoming interested in x-ray technology and had established a correspondence with Röntgen. He set up an x-ray laboratory but eventually handed it over to Dr. Otto L. Schmidt, who placed Fuchs in charge of what was eventually known as the Fuchs X-ray Laboratory. Fuchs' son, Arthur Wolfram Fuchs, wrote in his personal correspondence that:

"

Fuchs was called to Buffalo, NY to aid the dying William McKinley">President William McKinley after his assassination in 1901, even though no x-rays were ever ultimately used.

Early radiation protection

Fuchs realized the radiation damage from x-ray technology before it was acknowledged by the American Medical Association. His own extensive experimentation with x-rays resulted in severe Roentgen-Dermatitis, requiring the eventual amputation of his fingers and thumbs on both hands. Fuchs believed that "the damage must be seen to be insignificant compared to the good that follows from this wonderful discovery," and came up with ideas to reduce the damage. On December 12, 1896, Fuchs made the following reasonable recommendations in ''Western Electrician'': * Make the exposure as short as possible * Do not place the x-ray tube closer to the body than 12 inches (30 cm). * Rub the skin carefully with Vaseline and leave a layer on the part that shall be exposed. He also added that: "The x-ray 'burn' is no more dangerous than normal burns... when the x rays encounter the skull for a longer period, the hair falls out but it grows back without any unpleasant after-effects."

Death

Also suffering from metastatic cancer, Fuchs passed away after several operations on April 21, 1907.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuchs, Wolfram Conrad 1907 deaths Radiographers 1865 births X-ray pioneers Radiography German emigrants to the United States Immigrants to the United States