History

(02/10/09)

Prof. Vojtech Alexander 

Prof. dr. Vojtech Alexander was born on May 30, 1857 in Kežmark. At the age of seven, he started studying at the elementary school in his hometown, where he also continued his studies at the local lyceum. He graduated in 1876. At the age of 18, he enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine in Budapest, where he graduated on November 26, 1881. He worked for a short time at the Faculty of Pathological Anatomy in Budapest.

After he comes back to Kežmark, where he opens a private practice. He treated teeth and fractures, amputated crushed limbs, made incisions, sutures, punctures of ascites, and delivered births. In 1886, he married Alžbeta Schwarzová. They had five children.

At a time when he was already a well-known doctor, he learns about the sensational news of a scientific nature that on 8 November 1895 the German physicist W.C. Röntgen discovered X-rays. On May 27, 1896, he delivered a comprehensive report "On X-rays" in the meeting hall of the Kežmar town hall. Even then, Dr. Alexander dealt with the issue of purchasing an X-ray machine for Kežmark.

The first X-ray machine was supplied by the company Gebbert und Schall from Erlangen and cost 827 marks. This primitive apparatus and modest office of the rural doctor Dr. Thus, in 1897, Alexandra became the seed of medical radiology in Slovakia.

First he X-rayed flowers and seashells, then moles and later animal embryos. Only when he had sufficiently verified the new diagnostic method did he decide to x-ray the first hand of his friend on January 6, 1898, the exposure lasting five minutes.

In the years 1897 to 1901, he focused his scientific research on the creation of x-ray images. When he was doing well with X-rays of bones, he started doing lung imaging. He analyzed in detail the x-ray picture of tuberculosis of the lungs.

In the first historical section of medical radiology, little was known about the biological and bionegative effects of the new radiation. dr. Alexander held an opinion about the harmlessness of X-rays, he did not consider it necessary to wear a lead apron. He was the first to start dealing with the X-ray image of the children's skeleton, the development and formation of the ossification nuclei of the carpal bones and vertebrae. His belief in the harmlessness of X-rays did not prevent him from frequently christening his wife, who was pregnant at the time, and so once a month he used X-rays to monitor the embryonic development of his future son. Today, of course, we already know that the fetus is most sensitive to ionizing radiation in the first trimester of pregnancy. dr. However, Alexander did not know this, and so his own child developed mental disorders after birth, which made the boy a cripple.

He presented his experiences with X-rays at many international events and published them. After many attempts in 1906, he managed to make the first plastic image, and thus became the father of plastic roentgenology. He created plastic images by first taking a picture with soft and then hard X-rays, exposing twice, and when he then placed both copies on top of each other, he obtained a third, and finally a positive image that created a spatial impression.

dr. Alexander was recognized abroad (in Germany and England) as an extremely rare radiologist, but unfortunately in Hungary he had to fight with many haters. In 1906, the German X-ray Society sent a special letter to the faculty of the Faculty of Medicine in Budapest to pay due attention to the professional skills and meritorious work of Dr. Alexandra.

Probably under the influence of this letter, a central X-ray laboratory was established in Budapest (June 18, 1907). Dr. was proposed as a candidate for the mayor. Alexander. At the beginning of December 1907, Dr. Alexander administered the oath of office to the rector of the university.

The central X-ray laboratory consisted of a sacristy, a dark room and a workshop. The pictures were taken in the dark, the exposures were long, e.g. during bone imaging around 2 min. and up to 10 min when taking an X-ray of the abdomen. During the entire examination, the doctor stood in front of the patient unprotected from the unwanted effects of X-rays.

In 1909, he habilitated as a docent of radiology at the Faculty of Medicine in Budapest and at the same time founded the first department of radiology.

In the years 1910-1912, he began to deal with X-ray diagnostics of the kidneys and urinary tract, as well as the study of contrast agents. During long-term work with X-rays, Dr. Alexander discovered that X-rays help not only in diagnosis, but also in treatment. It is recorded, even at the time of his work in Kežmark, that he used X-rays to treat cancer, specifically in patients with cancer of the lower lip.

On 22.7.1914 Dr. Alexandra was elected full professor of roentgenology and radiology by the faculty of Budapest University. In that period, the unwanted effects of X-rays begin to appear, signs of radiation damage begin to appear on the fingers, typical skin changes indicating chronic dermatitis with the formation of foci of hyperkeratosis. This is followed by frequent fatigue, headache and muscle pain, high temperatures.

On Sunday, January 15, 1916, he suddenly dies of heart and vascular system failure. He was buried in Kežmark on January 17, 1916.