The Radiographic Atlas of Skeletal Development of the Hand and Wrist by WW Greulich and SI Pyle is a classic radiological text that was first published in 1950. Its second edition was released in 1959. Although an old text, which has been reprinted multiple times over the intervening years, many departments of radiology around the world still rely on tattered old copies of this slim volume. It also remains an important volume for those in forensic fields.
The material in the Atlas was from the Brush Foundation Study of Human Growth and Development, established by Thomas Wingate Todd (1885-1938) 3 in 1929, at Western Reserve University School of Medicine. This research study collated large amounts of data on skeletal development by fastidiously-performed serial x-rays of its enrolled subjects, some of whom were first radiographed at the age of three months. The study continued to perform x-rays of its subjects for 3-month to 1-year intervals. Approximately 800 children from affluent families in Cleveland, Ohio, were x-rayed for the study by 1930 3.
Todd's successor as Director of the Brush Foundation Study was Greulich who held the post from 1940-1949 2.
Interestingly neither author was a clinician. William "Bill" W Greulich (1899-1986) 2 was a physical anthropologist and anatomist renowned during his lifetime for his outstanding research and superb teaching. He was a Professor of Anatomy at the Stanford University School of Medicine. (Sarah) Idell Pyle (1895-1987) ref was a Research Associate at the Departments of Anatomy at Western Reserve University and Stanford University School of Medicine.
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