International Congress of Radiology

The International Congress of Radiology (ICR) is a meeting of radiologists for the exchange of ideas and the harmonisation of international standards and practice, first held in 1925 in London and held at regular intervals since then. Since 1994 it has become a biennial event. Until 1953 each congress was organised by radiological society of the host country, but in that year, a formal organisation, the International Society for Radiology was set up to provide continuity between the congresses.

At the second congress, held in 1928 in Stockholm, three international commissions were set up - the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) and the International Commission on Radiological Education (ICRE). The latter two have become fully functional organisations in their own right while the latter has remained a sub-committee of the ICR.

Within years of Röntgen discovering X-Rays in 1896, they were being used for imaging fractured bones. Various societies sprung up in different countries where ideas were exchanged between like-minded people and national standards for the measurement of X-Ray intensity developed. These societies also tried to address the problems associated with the dangers of X-Rays, particularly cancer.

By the end of the First World War a number of proposals on how to measure the intensity of X-Rays had been made, but there was little agreement between the various parties concerned. In 1925 the British Institute of Radiology, under the leadership of Charles Thurstan Holland invited delegates from a number of countries to attend the First International Congress on Radiation in London. This congress set up a framework for future meetings - future congresses would meet every three years in a different country, would be organised by the host country. The host country would nominate the chairman of the congress. It was also established that three commissions should be set up which would meet at the congresses:

Until the outbreak of the Second World War, congresses were held every three years. The 1940 congress was due to meet in Berlin in 1940, but was suspended due to the war. Apart from some copies of records kept by the 1973 Congress secretary-general, Benjamin Orndoff, the records of the congress, which had been handed to the German organisers in preparation for the next congress in Germany, were lost during the Second World War.

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