William Herbert Rollins

Who was William Herbert Rollins?

William Herbert Rollins is a forgotten American scientist and dentist. He was a pioneer in radiation protection. Many of his inventions and investigations in medical radiography and photography have been ranked in importance with those of Thomas A. Edison, Elihu Thomson, and William J. Morton.

Rollins, although a practicing dentist, also had a medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He spent a great deal of his spare time, after the day's work, studying the recently discovered x-rays. Rollins had an intuitive respect for these powerful penetrating rays. He referred to them as X-light.

As early as 1902 Rollins wrote almost despairingly, that his warnings about the dangers involved in careless use of x-rays was not being heeded, either by industry or by his colleagues. By this time Rollins had proved that x-rays could kill experimental animals, could cause a pregnant guinea pig to abort, and that they could kill a fetus. He also stressed that "animals vary in susceptibility to the external action of X-light" and warned that these differences be considered when patients were treated by means of x-rays.

William studied dentistry as an apprentice to Dr. Kidder of Lawrence, for three years. He then entered Harvard University School of Dentistry, graduating with the degree of D.M.D. in 1873, at the age of 21 years. A member of the faculty referred to Rollins as "one of the brightest men who has ever been graduated from the Dental School at Harvard."