Professor Dr Robert Janker was a pioneer in radiological diagnostics of skeletal systems, x-ray photograph technology, luminescent screen photography, x-ray cineradiography and radiotherapy. He worked on developing electronic image enhancement, x-ray television and mass x-ray screening. He established a medical clinic specialising in radiography in Bonn.
Professor Dr Robert Janker worked in Germany under National Socialism and post-war underwent de-Nazification. These films pre-date the events of the Holocaust when millions of Jewish (and other 'undesirable' people to the Nazi regime) lost their lives and in which many members of the medical profession were complicit in this atrocity. Janker's position in the medical hierarchy and membership of the Nazi party leads to question marks over the ethics of his research practices in the time leading up to this. After his de-Nazification, his standing was rehabilited in the USA.
Dr Ulf Schmidt whilst at the University of Kent discovered Janker's films in a Cambridge laboratory and organised the transfer to the Wellcome Library.