Edith H. Quimby, a former high school science teacher who later became a professor of radiology at Columbia University, helped develop applications for X-rays, radium and radioactive isotopes in the early part of this century. After setting up her laboratory at Columbia University, she focused on the medical use of X-rays and radium, particularly in treating tumors. She devised a way to measure the penetration of radiation so that doses could be more exact and side effects minimized. In 1940, in recognition of her work, she was the first woman to receive the Janeway Medal of the American Radium Society. Quimby worked on the Manhattan Project, which developed the atom bomb and also worked for the Atomic Energy Commission. Quimby died on this date in 1982.

Copyright InteliHealth, Inc., 2012. All rights reserved.