Rectification: the well-known "hand with gunshot" radiograph signed by M.I. Pupin (1858-1935) and published in 1931...

The well-known "hand with gunshot" X-ray bearing the signature of M.I. Pupin from Columbia College New York is widely recognized in the literature as being the first radiograph acquired with the use of an intensifying screen.

Personal research in the New York City daily newspapers from 1896 and at Columbia University allowed us to establish that Pupin took two X-rays of a "hand with gunshot" in a patient on February 15 and 19, 1896. The first X-ray is preserved among the Pupin papers at Columbia University, and the second radiograph was published in an American magazine in March 1896. In 1974, the original radiographic plate of the X-ray performed on February 19 was discovered. In 1930 or shortly before, Pupin signed a contemporary X-ray of a "hand with gunshot", which is incompatible with the historical X-rays. This X-ray was made public in 1931,1965, and 1969, with the false claim that it was the first X-ray acquired using an intensifying screen in 1896.

The "hand with gunshot" X-ray signed by Pupin around 1930 is a crude forgery of the X-ray he made on February 19, 1896. This X-ray has since been published many times and has been erroneously taken in good faith for the original. The historical X-rays remained ignored.

· This paper establishes that the renowned "hand with gunshot" X-ray signed by M.I. Pupin is a forgery..

· Monville J-F., Dondelinger RF. Rectification: the well-known "hand with gunshot" radiograph signed by M.I. Pupin (1858-1935) and published in 1931 is a forgery. Rofo 2025; DOI 10.1055/a-2742-1763.