[en] This report reviews the development of measurement standards and protection against x rays. The story of x rays can be divided into three periods up to 1925, a period of discovery, application, and a recognized new danger; up to 1955, a period of exploitation, measurement, control, and protection, and from then, a time of consolidation, public awareness, and political activism. This book is an account of how government and non-government organizations have worked together. Attention is directed to some of the changes and differences between government laboratory operations today and those in the first half of the 20th century