Wilhelm Röntgen

The prize-winning PROFESSOR whose accidental discovery of invisible rays gave the green light for X-rays

This photograph of Mrs Röntgen's hand is the world’s first X-ray.

Bright spark

Born in 1845 in Germany, Wilhelm Röntgen was raised in the Netherlands. He studied mechanical engineering before becoming a professor of physics. In 1895, while researching with an electric light tube, also known as cathode ray tube, he noticed an unusual glowing green light. This radiation was later identified as X-RAYS.

Lending a hand

After further experiments, Röntgen proved that X-rays could travel through different materials, such as paper and skin. When he placed his wife’s hand between the X-ray beam and a photographic plate, her BONES COULD BE SEEN. This groundbreaking method of photographing inside the body won Röntgen the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

How he changed…

Röntgen’s X-ray apparatus

Since Röntgen’s discovery, doctors can look inside the human body to detect broken bones or serious illnesses.

the world

Photographic plate By the way… I named these strange invisible rays X-rays – X is a mathematical symbol for something unknown.