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Ukrainian Physicist Contributes to the Discovery of X-Rays
Ihor I. Mayba, M.D. (Winnipeg, Canada), Roman Gaida, Ph.D. (Lviv
Ukraine), Robert A. Kyle, M.D., and Marc A. Shampo, Ph.D.
Ukrainian-born physicist Ivan Pawlowich Puluj is best known for his early investigations on cathode rays and radiation. In 1877, he constructed a cathode ray tube (or lamp), called "Puluj’s tube"; subsequent refinements led to his creation of a vacuum tube in 1879. By passing electricity through the tube containing rarified gas, Puiuj produced cathode rays (high-speed electrons), Between 1881 and 1882, he published reports on cathode rays, and in 1883, he wrote an article
about his vacuum tube. By 1886, he had recorded his first photographic plate of the radiation phenomenon. In his 1889 experiments on electricity and gases, Puluj rioted that photo-graphic plates became black when exposed to cathode rays. That same year, the Physical Society of London published a translation of his monograph on cathode rays.
Although Puluj essentially produced x-rays from cathode rays focused on a photognaphic plate, he did not recognize the emission as x-rays. German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen (1g45-1923) is credited with their discovery in Wurzburg. Germany, on Nov. 8,. 1895. almost 7 years later.
Working independently of Roentgen. Puluj reported his experiments on the phenomenon of cathode rays and their effect on photographic plates in 1895. just 6 weeks after Roentgen presented his findings. Puluj’s work was pub-lished in La Natura (Paris, France) on Feb. 8, 1896, and in Tire
London Photogram (London. England) on Apr. 3, 1896.
The latter publication explained his work and included photographs showing the skeleton of a baby stillborn at 7 months' gestation. The publication of his article on cathode rays in Austria on Feb. 13 and Mar. 5, .1896, demonstrated recognition of Puluj’s' contribution in this area. Subse-quently. researchers at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire used a Puluj tube to perform an x-ray examination of a patient's wrist, which showed a fracture of the ulna.
The high quality of Puluj’s x-ray photographs was readily apparent when they were published on the same day (Feb. 8, 1896) in both a French and a Czech journal. The article in the Czech journal showed Puluj’s photographs of a normal hand and the hand of a patient with tuberculosis. Puluj]uj suggested that these types of photographs had applications in surgical treatment.
Puluj, the son of a minister, was born on Feb. 2, 1845, at Hrymaliv, Galicia, Ukraine. He received his early education in Ternopil (78 miles east of Lviv (Lvov). From 1864 to 1869, he studied theology in Vienna, Austria, and in 1872, he completed studies there in philosophy, mathematics, physics, and astronomy. He was a lecturer in physics and mathematics at the Austrian War Academy in Rijeka (Fiume), Austria, from 1874 to 1875. From 1873 to 1875, while studying for his doctorate, Puluj also worked in the physics laboratory of the University of Strasbourg, where Roentgen was an assistant at that same time.
Puluj was a lecturer in experimental physics at the Univer-sity of Vienna from 1877 to 1883. In 1884, he became a professor at Prague Polytechnical Institute (Czechoslovakia), a position he held until 1916. In 1902, Puluj became Dean of the Electrotechnical Faculty of Prague Polytechnical Institute.
In addition to his scientific work, Puluj was an activist for his culture, religion. and language. During World War I (1914-1918), he helped Ukrainians who were politically per-secuted 10 seek asylum in Prague. He also campaigned for the establishment of a Ukrainian university in Lviv. lie trans-lated a German textbook of geometry, the Bible, and a prayer book into the Ukrainian language.
Puluj died in Prague on Jan. 31,1918, at the age of 72 years. His historic cathode ray tubes and apparatus were donated to the Ukrainian Medical Society in Lviv, where they remained until 1941. Sometime after 1945, the collection was confiscated by the Russian government. and its current whereabouts are unknown. Some of Puluj's original apparatus. However, is preserved in the museum of Dartmouth College and in Prague, Paris, and Vienna. From May 22 to 26, 1995, a congress was held in Lviv and Ternopol to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Puluj's birth. In 1995, a stamp was issued by Ukraine in his honor.