 After serving as resident physician in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh under Sir James Affleck he was appointed Lecturer in Physics at the Extramural School of Medicine at Surgeons' Hall, Edinburgh.In addition he acted as clinical tutor in clinical medicine at the Extramural School at Surgeons' Hall.When X-rays were discovered by Röntgen in 1895 Dawson Turner was one of the first to appreciate their possible application in medicine.