William John Hancock

rdf:langString William John Hancock

rdf:langString William John Hancock D.Sc. (Hon), MIEE, MICE, LRCP (2 May 1864 – 26 August 1931) was an Australian of Irish descent, an electrical engineer, telephone pioneer and pioneer in X-rays in the colony of Western Australia. He was honorary radiologist for Perth Hospital and Base Hospital in Fremantle. His list of credentials and accomplishments include M.I.E.E., Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, M.I.C.E., Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, L.R.C.P., Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians and D.Sc. (Honorary). In the colonies of Australia, the medical men of the day took a slow approach in the adoption of the new science that involved x-rays. Many of the early demonstrations were made by investigators outside the medical field. Upon examination of the initial investigators, several key factors were common. The individuals had already either been experimenting along similar lines to Wilhelm Röntgen with Crookes tubes and such, the physicists or scientists, or were actively associated with electrical work, the electricians, which made them particularly receptive to the technical appeal of the new science of x-rays. Records of the events reveal that among the medical men who witnessed the first images produced as radiographs, a rather small number had any great desire to employ X-rays directly in their own medical practice. After the early investigative work of Thomas Ranken Lyle, William Henry Bragg, Joseph Patrick Slattery, and others, almost all medical men were satisfied with soliciting the services of the external X-ray man when necessity arose for skiagraphs to be produced. As the utilization of x-rays became more acceptable, the involvement of electricians began to decline. As the hospitals started to be equipped with x-ray apparatus and installations under the care of radiologists and radiographers, the medical men began to accept the eventuality of the new technology. Up to this point, the private experimenters and investigators continued to be the initiators of new ideas for the medical profession in this new field.