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There are some numbers you simply can't ignore. For instance, the millennium. Y2K is upon us. Yes indeed, the year of our Lord 2000, ought ought, no less. The date has an odd look and a strange sound and will take some getting used to. Soothsayers find this occasion laden with portents of gloom and doom. Dire predictions to the contrary, I trust we are still here.
After all, according to the geologic record, the world is actually 4.5 billion years old, plus or minus a few hundred millennia. And some people would argue, with reasonable justification, that the next millennium doesn't actually start until the year 2001. Indeed, the selection of a calendar is somewhat arbitrary, though most assuredly not capricious. And there are bigger numbers about. According to the Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, occurred last September 11, making this the year 5760. Nothing special here. The Chinese calendar identifies the coming year, the new year beginning on February 5th, simply as another Year of the Dragon (Chen MYM, personal communication). Nothing special about that either.
On the human scale, a considerably smaller number of years catches your attention: your 21st birthday, turning 40 or 50, for that matter. The achievement of such milestones is cause for celebration and reflection. In our present fast-paced world, 100 years seems an eternity. It is not easy to make it to 100. You need luck, skill, and good fortune. And to last a century, an organization requires a sound purpose and reasonable product.
In regards to our timetable, whether this is actually the millennium or not and regardless of what your calendar may read, we know one thing for sure, this is indeed the 100th anniversary of the founding of the AJR's sponsoring organization, the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS).
The ARRS was founded in St. Louis, MO, on March 26, 1900, by a gathering of 15 individuals dedicated to the development and promotion of a new fledgling in the medical nest, radiology. The first annual meeting was held in New York City in December of that same year [1].
So the year 2000 is definitely special for the American Roentgen Ray Society. We celebrate our centennial, our 100th year of existence. Quite an achievement!
The celebration will be the central theme of our 100th annual meeting, May 7-12, at the Marriott Wardham Park in Washington, DC. You are cordially invited to attend the festivities. I am certain you would be most welcome. It promises to be an exceptionally fine meeting.
The AJR, of course, will herald the occasion of the centennial of our sponsoring organization because we have been together, through thick and through thin, since the beginning. At the time the organization was founded, The American X-Ray Journal was adopted as the official publication of the Roentgen Ray Society, as the ARRS was first known. This publication then became the American Quarterly of Radiology and ultimately, in 1913, was renamed The American Journal of Roentgenology. Subsequently, the phrases "and Radium Therapy" and then "and Nuclear Medicine" were added to the title in 1923 and 1952, respectively, but the name reverted to the American Journal of Roentgenology in 1976 and has remained so ever since [1].
In celebrating the ARRS Centennial, several special features will appear in each issue of the AJR in the year 2000.
Leading off each issue will be an invited perspective or review article, called "Centennial Dissertations," written by a prominent authority in honor of two of the first 24 presidents of the society. The first is "A Sound Perspective," which, appropriately enough, comes from the pen of George R. Leopold [2] of San Diego, himself a former president of the society (1994-1995) and recent recipient of the ARRS Gold Medal (1999). As you would expect from the good Dr. Leopold, he delivers an informative, yet lighthearted and, occasionally, even irreverent review of the introduction of sonography into our specialty.
Also, a special editorial called "Centennial Sounding Board" will be provided each month by an officer of the ARRS or a member of its Executive Council. The editorial will share insights into the future direction of diagnostic imaging and the role of the ARRS in promoting the advancement of our specialty. This month's is authored by President-Elect William Casarella [3] of Atlanta.
Each month an excerpt of an important, interesting, or intriguing AJR article published in the past will be featured as a left-hand page, "Looking Forward, Looking Back" [4]. These excerpts have been selected and developed by a former ARRS Figley Fellow, Lane Donnelly of Cincinnati, to highlight past contributions in our Journal. I am certain you will find these both enjoyable and informative.
And finally, an additional one or two lefthand pages may be selected from the ARRS archives for publication as Centennial "the-way-it-was" Photo Pages; a glimpse into our past.
And, oh yes, you will note that the ARRS centennial logo has been affixed to the cover and will be liberally sprinkled throughout each of this year's issues.
So there you have it, notation of a singular event. Join in; there's cause for celebration. A centennial! Pop a cork, light a candle, make a toast! Your American Roentgen Ray Society made it to 100.
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  C. Hong, C. R. Becker, A. Huber, U. J. Schoepf, B. Ohnesorge, A. Knez, R. Bruning, and M. F. Reiser ECG-gated Reconstructed Multi-Detector Row CT Coronary Angiography: Effect of Varying Trigger Delay on Image Quality Radiology, September 1, 2001; 220(3): 712 - 717. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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