Edith and Florence Stoney, Sisters in Radiology

​Adrian Thomas has been fascinated by history ever since his junior school days. He developed his interest in the history of radiology when he was a junior doctor at the Hammersmith Hospital in the 1980s. He has written many articles and book chapters and has co-authored books on the history of radiology, including a biography of Sir Godfrey Hounsfield, the inventor of X-ray computed tomography. Adrian is secretary and past-chair of the International Society for the History of Radiology. He is honorary historian at the British Institute of Radiology, and lectures on the history of radiology for the Diploma of the History of Medicine of the Society of Apothecaries. He is past-president of the British Society for the History of Medicine. He is visiting professor at Canterbury Christ Church University, and has a long-standing interest in role development in radiography.  Francis Duck igraduated in Physics from Nottingham University and joined the Medical Physics Department at University College Hospital, London, in 1966, initiating his lifelong career in medical ultrasound. This took him to Canada and the United States before returning to the United Kingdom to settle in Bath as a medical physicist in the National Health Service. Here, with colleagues from the Physics Department at the University of Bath, he pioneered several innovative developments in ultrasound scanning and also took a leading role in setting international standards for its safe medical use.  More recently he has developed his interest in the history of science, and particularly the interface between physics and medicine, culminating in his monograph Physicists and Physicians, which traces three centuries of the contributions from physicists and engineers to medicine. In 2007 he was awarded the MBE for services to health care. He was formerly visiting professor at the University of Bath.

“The book is well written … . It includes great depictions of foreign bodies, fractures and diseased bone pathology, and I enjoyed learning how x-rays were used to treat Graves’ disease, ulcers and ringworm. … I’d recommend this book to scholars and imaging aficionados looking for a deeper historical perspective on the imaging sciences.” (Jennifer J. Alexander, ASRT Scanner, June-July, 2023)“This is a comprehensive, well referenced biography of the Stoney sisters. … The sisters were remarkable women who deserve to be better remembered and this scholarly, well researched biography is a tribute to their important legacy and the authors deserve to be congratulated for this fine contribution to the radiology history literature.” (Arpan K Banerjee, RAD Magazine, March, 2020)

• Chapter 1: Dublin.- Chapter 2: Oakley Park.- Chapter 3: Newnham College, Cambridge.- Chapter 4: Cheltenham.- Chapter 5: London School of Medicine for Women.- Chapter 6: Florence and X-rays.- Chapter 7: Teaching Physics.- Chapter 8: Challenge and Loss.- Chapter 9: Action and Reaction.- Chapter 10: Florence’s War.- Chapter 11: Chateau de Chanteloup.- Chapter 12: Serbia and Salonika.- Chapter 13: Mobile Radiography.- Chapter 14: Villers-Cotterêts.- Chapter 15: Royaumont Abbey.- Chapter 16: Return to Civilian Life.- Chapter 17: Family, Retirement and Travel.- Chapter 18: Legacy.