The woman who knew too much

Alice Stewart died one of Britain's foremost epidemiologists. However her recognition came late in her career, having spent her life fighting the establishment's enshrined views.

In the 1950s when she started her work, x-rays were routinely used in foetal monitoring. It was Stewart who first showed the link between the practice and childhood leukemia. She went on to look at the effects of low-level radiation exposure - uncovering the true adverse effects of chronic exposure, and thus earning herself the enmity of the nuclear industry.

Her seminal paper on Leukaemia and Prenatal X-rays, was published in the BMJ in 1960.