Cancer Treatment: Radiation, References

His father was from somewhere in Northern Europe, perhaps Prussia, and his mother was Pomeranian. They emigrated from the Baltic coast to Chicago in 1870: Hodges, Paul. The Life and Times of Emil H. Grubbe. University of Chicago Press, 1964. p.5ff.

It was in the spring of 1890 that Émil decided that he wanted to go into medicine: Hodges. Life and Times. p.8.

In 1959, in a tape-recorded interview with Elliot McCleary: Hodges. Life and Times. p.12.

Émil’s claims about visiting diamond fields, volcanoes, making synthetic diamonds, and going on polar expeditions, as well as his biographer’s note about chronological discrepancies: Hodges. Life and Times. p.71ff.

He claimed to have started a mining company in 1895 and found $25,000 worth of platinum in the sand at the bottom of the Snake River in Idaho: Hodges. Life and Times. p.18ff.

He claimed that he had personally been treated for his X-ray burns by William Osler: Hodges. Life and Times. p.66f.

Grubbé even claimed to teach radiology at Johns Hopkins University during World War I: Hodges. Life and Times. p.80.

he gave her a sheepish grin: Hodges. Life and Times. p.71.

His biographer speculated that the reason for all these fantastic fictions about his life boils down to the fact that Grubbé was a staunch atheist, but particularly an atheist who was obsessed with immortality: Hodges. Life and Times. p.97f.

None of us would be blameless if it were a character defect: Hodges. Life and Times. p.17.

“having read what he says, I have become more, rather than less, skeptical": Hodges. Life and Times. p.70.

“vain, boastful, incompletely truthful, and only moderately able": Hodges. Life and Times. p.97.

“Readers who have persevered thus far with this little volume: Hodges. Life and Times. p.89.

In November and December of 1895, the Prussian physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays by accident: Kuhn, Thomas. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. University of Chicago Press, 1962. Fourth Edition, 2012. p.57f.

Emil claims that because he was a chemist and a physicist: Hodges. Life and Times. p.23.

Near the end of January of 1896, the back of his left hand: Hodges. Life and Times. p.24.

For this, he claimed to be the first person to suffer radiation injury: Hodges. Life and Times. p.vii.

That was the state of affairs: Hodges. Life and Times. p.24.

the “accidental, non-scientific, ill-advised nature of his early use of X-rays for the treatment of disease": Hodges. Life and Times. p.98.

Unsurprisingly, Grubbé claimed priority in many matters that he inadequately documented: Hodges. Life and Times. p.x,51.

There is no information about the physical findings: Hodges. Life and Times. p.25. In the quoted text, the abbreviation by ellipses is the work of Hodges.

“Grubbe’s Corn Cure": Hodges. Life and Times. p.27.

The use of X-Ray as a therapeutic agent is at present: Hodges. Life and Times. p.46.

“uninhibited cultist": Hodges. Life and Times. p.52.

“radio mania": Hodges. Life and Times. p.54.

for the previous year, he’d been treating an average of over seventy patients per day: Grubbé. X-Rays in the Treatment of Cancer and Other Malignant Diseases. Medical Report. 1902. Quoted from Hodges. Life and Times. p.

Grubbé’s paper titled “X-Rays in the Treatment of Cancer and Other Malignant Diseases" is reproduced in full in Appendix 1 of Life and Times. p.102ff.

Grubbé’s paper titled “One Hundred and Thirty-Nine Cases of Skin Cancer Cured by X-Rays" is reproduced in full in Appendix 1 of Life and Times. p.117ff.

“In my opinion this is Emil’s best writing: Hodges. Life and Times. p.57.

an epidemiological study of 4.4 million people that those who were diagnosed with skin cancer have an increased life expectancy: Brøndum-Jacobsen, Peter, Børge G Nordestgaard, Sune F Nielsen, and Marianne Benn. Skin cancer as a marker of sun exposure associates with myocardial infarction, hip fracture and death from any cause. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2013.

His whole life was afflicted with mounting disabilities resulting from overdosages: E. H. Grubbe, M.D., F.A.C.P. Obituary. British Medical Journal. August 20, 1960.

Emil held pathologists in low esteem and did not hesitate to say so: Hodges. Life and Times. p.69.

That honor goes to Victor Despeignes, a French oncologist: Mould, Richard. Emil Herman Grubbé (1875–1960) with special reference to priority for X-ray cancer therapy. Biuletyn Polskiego Towarzystwa Onkologicznego. 2018.

a German physician named A. Voigt: Mould 2018.

the Swedish physicians Tage Sjögren and Thor Stenbeck: Mould 2018.

radiation therapy “flowered ... when the wartime work of Robert Stone’s large group at the University of Chicago: Hodges. Life and Times. p.80.

Robert Stone and the atomic bomb facilities were all a part of that Manhattan Project: “Robert Spencer Stone." Scholarly Community Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/38255. Accessed June 6, 2025.

Stone, Robert. Lymphoblastoma Involving the Stomach—Roentgenologically Considered. California and Western Medicine. July 1930.

Stone, Robert and J. Maurice Robinson. Roentgen Irradiation of the Pelvis in Carcinoma Cervix Uteri. Radiology. May 1941.

Morton, Daniel. Cervical Cancer: An Autopsy Study of Women Dying with Cervical Cancer After Radiation. California and Western Medicine. May 1935.

in late 1941, he gave a presentation that was published in 1942. The topic was the therapeutic use of artificially produced radioactive substances: Low-Beer, Bertram V.A., John H. Lawrence, and Robert S. Stone. Stone, Robert. The Therapeutic Use of Artificially Produced Radioactive Substances. Radiology. November 1942.

Sheline, Glenn E. and Robert S. Stone. Carcinoma of the Larynx. Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology. December 1958.

in 2021 there was a paper published that went over all the evidence: Noy, Miguel Angel et al. Levels of Evidence for Radiation Therapy Recommendations in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Guidelines. Advances in Radiation Oncology. September 2021.

“an alliance of 33: “National Comprehensive Cancer Network." Wikipedia. https://web.archive.org/web/20250401005343/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Comprehensive_Cancer_Network. Accessed June 11, 2025.

Stone, Robert S. Radiation Injury. Protection Against X-Rays and Gamma Rays. Vol. 46. Radiology. 1946.

Quantifying the amount of erectile dysfunction: Wortel, Ruud C, Luca Incrocci, and John P Mulhall. Reporting Erectile Function Outcomes After Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer: Challenges in Data Interpretation. Journal of Sexual Medicine. October 2017.

according to the National Cancer Institute, high energy radiation, including X-rays, can cause cancer: Cancer Causes and Prevention. Risk Factors. Radiation. National Cancer Institute. https://web.archive.org/web/20250601071344/https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation. Accessed June 8, 2025.

founded in the early 1850s: “Hospitals." Encyclopedia of Chicago. http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/602. Accessed June 8, 2025.