Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations, Memorial stele in St George's Hospital garden, Hamburg, Germany
The Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations is a columnar stone memorial in the garden of St Georg Hospital (now Asklepios Klinik St Georg) in Hamburg. It was unveiled on 4 April 1936 with 169 names from fifteen nations; by 1960 the total had reached 359, with additions on four separate stone plaques beside the original stele.
The memorial was established in 1936 by the German Roentgen Society to document the early years of medical radiation research. It marks a period when the dangers of radiation exposure were not yet fully understood and many researchers paid with their lives.
The memorial names individuals from around the world who contributed to early medical science. It stands as a place where people from different nations are remembered together for their sacrifice in advancing knowledge.
The memorial stands in the garden of the St Georg hospital, now the Asklepios Klinik St Georg, in the Hamburg district of St Georg. The original columnar stone carries the first names; four separate stone plaques beside it hold the later additions. The site is a hospital garden, so visitors pass through clinic grounds to reach it.
The first name on the stone is Heinrich Albers-Schönberg, founder of the X-ray house at St Georg hospital and, with Georg Deycke, first editor of the journal Fortschritte auf dem Gebiet der Röntgenstrahlen; he is considered Germany's first radiology specialist. The earliest victim remembered is Friedrich Clausen (1864–1900), who demonstrated X-rays in numerous experimental lectures between 1896 and 1900.
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