On This Day Nov 08,1895,German Scientist Wilhelm Roentgen Discovers X-Rays

On this day in 1895, physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen (1845-1923) becomes the first person to observe X-rays

Rontgen’s discovery occurred accidentally in his Wurzburg, Germany, lab, where he was testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass when he noticed a glow coming from a nearby chemically coated screen. He dubbed the rays that caused this glow X-rays because of their unknown nature.

X-rays are electromagnetic energy waves that act similarly to light rays, but at wavelengths approximately 1,000 times shorter than those of light.

Rontgen holed up in his lab and conducted a series of experiments to better understand his discovery. He learned that X-rays penetrate human flesh but not higher-density substances such as bone or lead and that they can be photographed.

Rontgen’s discovery was labeled a medical miracle and X-rays soon became an important diagnostic tool in medicine, allowing doctors to see inside the human body for the first time without surgery.

 In 1897, X-rays were first used on a military battlefield, during the Balkan War, to find bullets and broken bones inside patients.

On Dec. 28, 1895, Roentgen published his first paper on X-rays and subsequently received dozens of scientific prizes and awards. Most notably, Roentgen was awarded the first-ever Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 for his work.