"In 1896 a German physics professor, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, presented a remarkable lecture entitled “Concerning a New Kind of Ray.” Roentgen called it the “X-ray”, with “x” being the algebraic symbol for an unknown quantity. There was immediate worldwide excitement. Within months, systems were being devised to use x-rays for diagnosis, and within 3 years radiation was used in to treat cancer."
And chemotherapy is a bit newer, from the 40's.
But where are these new, groundbreaking cancer treatments we hear so much about for the last 20 years? It's always promising and it's always just one step from human trials.
Yet still these are the two options.