It is the oldest institute of its kind in the world, forming on 2 April 1897.

He had been the first person in Britain to use X-rays, using equipment created by William Thomson, Lord Kelvin at Glasgow Royal Infirmary on 5 February 1896.

[4] The formalisation of the BIR occurred in 1927 upon the merger of the two societies.

Among other publications, the BIR publishes several journals including the British Journal of Radiology (BJR), and Dentomaxillofacial Radiology (the official journal of the International Association of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology, IADMFR).

[5] The Archives of Clinical Skiagraphy, first published in 1896, ultimately became the BJR in 1928.