Many of his inventions and investigations in medical radiography and photography have been ranked in importance with those of Thomas A. Edison, Elihu Thomson, and William J. Morton.

He spent a great deal of his spare time, after the day's work, studying the recently discovered X-rays.

John Trowbridge, Professor of Physics at Harvard University, wrote, "No one appears to have had the experience of Dr. Rollins in exhausting X-ray tubes to the point of greatest efficiency".

Following a radiation-induced injury to his hand,[1] Rollins developed new X-ray technology and techniques to reduce patient exposure to radiation.

[4] He also stressed that "animals vary in susceptibility to the external action of X-light" and warned that these differences should be considered when patients were treated by means of X-rays.

Furthering his extreme humility, Rollins would often not even sign his work, and would simply leave a simple drawing of two birds over a mountain.