Emil Grubbe

Émil Herman Grubbé (1 January 1875 — 26 March 1960) was possibly the first American to use x-rays as a treatment for cancer (versus detection)[1] but this is disputed[2] and no reliable contemporary source of this claim exists. He was born in Chicago, and received his medical training at a homeopathic institute:[3] the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago.[4] It was there that Grubbe assembled the first x-ray machine in Chicago in 1896, and that same year, used it to treat a woman with recurrent carcinoma of the breast (disputed).[5] He assembled the machine and began to use it in treatments less than a year after Wilhelm Röntgen announced his discovery of the x-ray.[6] By 1960, Grubbe had instructed over 7000 other doctors in the medical use of x-rays.[1] In the course of his lifetime, he underwent more than 90 operations for multiple cancers caused by his intense, ongoing exposure to radiation,[5] a disease from which he died. Honors were bestowed upon Grubbe by numerous institutions, including the American Cancer Society. He was also a fellow of the American College of Physicians.[5] Grubbe left money in his will to the Chicago Radiological Society to fund the Grubbe Memorial Award.[4]