Who Invented X-ray?
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, a German physicist, is usually credited with the discovery of x-rays. Although he wasn’t the first person to have noticed their effects, he was the first scientist to study them thoroughly. In fact, the early researchers include: Johann Hittrof, Ivan Pulyui, Nicola Tesla, Fernando Sanford, Phillip Lenard etc.
Like most other discoveries, this too was accidental. In 1895, W. C. Röntgen found that an image was cast from his cathode ray generator. The place, where the image was cast was beyond the range of the cathode rays. This intrigued the scientist and he began investigating. Further research showed there were some other kinds of rays at work. No one knew about those rays so he named them x-rays. In mathematics, ‘x’ is used to denote an unknown quantity.
There was a sudden public interest in this discovery when Röntgen photographed his wife’s hand. The photo revealed her bones and the wedding ring. Later the technology was put into use in the medical field.
Category: Inventions, Technology