Taft, Robert Burbidge, 1899-1951.

Radiologist Dr. Robert Burbidge Taft was born in Charleston, S.C. in 1899. After attending the College of Charleston, he completed his medical degree at the Medical College of the State of South Carolina in 1923. Dr. Taft served on the faculty of MCSSC from 1936-1951. Dr. Taft developed a portable, battery operated Geiger-Muller counter, which he referred to as his "radium hound". He used the device to recover stolen and accidentally discarded radium. Dr. Taft was often called on to help hospitals around the United States locate their lost radium, and in 1938 published a book on his experiences entitled "Radium Lost and Found". Dr. Taft X-rayed the Charleston Museum's 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy in 1932, providing a new understanding of the mummy. Dr. Taft was a member of the Radiological Society, the American Roentgen Ray Society, and also served as a consultant to the Institute of Nuclear Studies at Oak Ridge, TN. Dr. Taft died in 1951.