Reconstituting the Acceptance and Daily Integration of Technology: X-Rays in the Late Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey, 1895 to Present

Titled “Reconstituting the Acceptance and Daily Integration of Technology: X-Rays in the Late Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey, 1895 to Present” (RADIATE), this project pioneers a new methodological approach to the study of technology in non-Western contexts. By tracing the longue-durée historical trajectory of X-ray technology, from its discovery by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen in Germany to its widespread adoption in modern Turkey, RADIATE moves beyond conventional narratives that simply focus on the moment of its first introduction in the Ottoman Empire. Instead, it highlights the complex path X-ray technology took to gain acceptance, a journey marked by deep-rooted fears and societal anxieties, such as concerns about exposing the human body to invisible forces. The project explores the deeper and often overlooked economic and legal processes that helped transform X-ray technology from a foreign innovation into an integral part of daily life. Rather than treating X-ray machines as prepackaged technologies simply transplanted into the Ottoman world, RADIATE examines their gradual integration across different sectors of society despite initial scepticism and rejection. This includes investigating lesser-studied uses of X-rays beyond medicine, such as in industrial applications and border control – areas that have been almost entirely neglected in previous scholarship. By incorporating a diverse array of historical actors – ranging from technicians and marketers to investors and ordinary citizens – RADIATE challenges the traditional focus on elite scientific figures in the history of radiology. The project’s multidisciplinary and holistic approach aims to offer a groundbreaking understanding of how technology changed society – and how society changed technology.