Head Shrinker

William G. Myers, MD, PhD
Nuclear Medicine Equipment Photographs
1950s

William Graydon Myers (1908-1988) a graduate of and professor at The Ohio State University, made many contributions to nuclear medicine and was instrumental in bringing the cyclotron to the Physics Department at Ohio State in 1941.  In 1948, he introduced cobalt-60 as a substitute for radium in cancer treatment, in 1952, he and Benjamin H. Colmery introduced gold-198 as a replacement for radon-222 in permanent seed implantation for cancer.  Myers was also instrumental in the development of radioisotopes for diagnostic and investigative medicine.  He introduced more radioisotopes into nuclear medicine than any other individual – eleven in all.

One of the most valuable aspects of the William G. Myers, MD, PhD Collection is the albums of nuclear medicine equipment photographs. During the pioneering early years of the field of nuclear medicine, unique prototypes of medical machines were constructed and destructed frequently and in short order. Equipment components were reused to save on space and money and, therefore, very few examples of early equipment remain in existence today. Myers, an avid photographer, carefully documented examples of this equipment through photography and by saving images taken by others. The result is a rich collection containing the only documentation in existence of the early technology used in the field.