WILHELM RÖNTGEN: HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE X-RAYS

Abstract

85 years ago, in February 1923, died Wilhelm Röntgen, a prominent German physicist, the discoverer of X-rays. Prof. Röntgen (1845-1923) was born in Lennep (Germany) and graduated from the Polytechnical Institute of Zurich (Switzerland). Since 1888 he was a professor of the Department of Physics at the University of Wurzburg. Working in the laboratory with Crux tube on November 8, 1895, prof. Röntgen discovered the presence of invisible rays, which could pass through paper and wood. So he called these mysterious rays – X-rays. Röntgen also discovered the ability of these rays to interact with photographic film. And what was most incredible, the unknown rays passed through soft tissues and allowed to do the photographs of the bone structures under the skin tissue. Röntgen announced about his discovery in a famous article named «Ueber eine neue Art von Strahlen» (About a new kind of radiation), which was published in «Annalen der Physik und Chemie» (The annals of physics and chemistry), Wurzburg. X-rays were evaluated accordingly and were used in medicine already after one month of their discovery. In 1901 Röntgen was awarded by the Nobel prize in physics. In his honor this rays were named Röntgen rays.