Vittorio Maragliano (1878 −1944) in the history of European medicine: Grand master and pioneer of Italian radiology

Abstract

Vittorio Maragliano was born in Genoa in 1878. Fascinated since childhood by all things electric, he succeeded in installing the first radiological apparatus in 1896, only one year after the discovery of “Röntgen rays”, and immediately began to make his first radioscopy observations. Having graduated from the University of Genoa in 1901 with a thesis on high-frequency currents, he continued assiduously to frequent the Department of Electrotherapy of the Medical Clinic, where he immediately became an assistant. A teacher of special medical pathology and physical therapy in 1910, Maragliano became tenured professor of electrotherapy and radiology in 1913, occupying one of the first three chairs in the history of Italian radiology, and later directed the Institute of Radiology of the Royal University of Genoa. In the same year, he co-founded, together with Aristide Busi, the Italian Society of Medical Radiology, one of Europe's first scientific societies of radiology.

As a pioneer of radiology, Maragliano suffered serious injuries due to radiodermatitis from 1901 onwards, which required amputations and repeated skin transplants. His tireless scientific activity and his great success in the international scientific sphere, together with his copious publications, make Vittorio Maragliano one of the greatest pioneers of 19th-century radiology and a source of pride for the Genoese and Ligurian School of Medicine.