Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen was born in 1845 in Lennep, Germany (which is today a borough of Remschied ) and died on 10 February 1923 when he was 77 years old. He was the only child of a merchant and manufacturer of cloth. In March 1848, his family moved Apeldoorn and Wilhelm was raised in Netherlands. Wilhelm Rontgen received his early education at the boarding school, Institution of Martinus Herman van Doorn in Apeldoorn. His doctoral advisor was August Kundt and his Doctoral students were Herman march, Abram loffe and Ernst wagner.

Try to imagine how different life would be without modern medical technology. In 1895, the invention of the x-ray created an amazing step forward in the history of medicine. For the first time ever, the inner workings of the body could be made visible without having to cut into the flesh. On November 8, 1895, the fifty-year old Roentgen was working in the lab investigating the properties of cathode ray. He decided to repeat some of Lenard's and Hertz's experiments hypothesizing that the rays had always penetrated the glass tube, but were previously undetected. In order to test that, he covered the tube with black cardboard in a darkened room and supplied the electric current. When Roentgen was covering the tube with the black cardboard had forgotten to put a screen directly in front of the tube.

Roentgen then, suddenly saw a greenish yellow glow appeared on a cardboard screen that was lying on a chair several feet away from the tube. When he did that, Roentgen suddenly saw a letter “ A ” which a student had written on the cardboard. After lots of experiments, Roentgen managed to invent the first X-ray machine. Roentgen ’ s laboratory, where he first discovered the X-Ray

Wilhelm Roentgen, Professor of Physics in Worzburg, Bavaria, was the first person to discover the possibility of using electromagnetic radiation to create what we now know as the x-ray. The image below is the first x-ray Roentgen ever created. It was actually roentgen ’ s wife ’ s image.

By 1896 an x-ray department had been set up at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, one of the first radiology departments in the world. The head of the first X-ray department was Dr John Macintyre. Dr John Macintyre produced a number of remarkable x-rays: the first x-ray of a kidney stone; an x-ray showing a penny in the throat of a child, and an image of a frog's legs in motion. In the same year, Dr Hall-Edwards became one of the first people to use an x-ray to make a diagnosis - he discovered a needle embedded in a woman's hand.

In the first twenty years following Roentgen's discovery, x-rays were used to treat soldiers fighting in the Boar war and those fighting in WWI, finding bone fractures and imbedded bullets. Much excitement surrounded the new technology, and x-ray machines started to appear as a wondrous curiosity in theatrical shows. It was eventually recognized that frequent exposure to x-rays could be harmful, and today special measures are taken to protect the patient and doctor. By the early 1900s the damaging qualities of x-rays were shown to be very powerful in fighting cancers and skin diseases.

Picture of the olden days X- machine Picture of the present X- machine

The most important application of the X-ray has been its use in medicine. This importance was recognized almost immediately after Roentgen's findings were published in Within weeks of its first demonstration, an X-ray machine was used in America to diagnose bone fractures.

X-rays are waves of electromagnetic energy. They behave in much the same way as light rays, but at much shorter wavelengths. When directed at a target, X-rays can often pass through the substance uninterrupted, especially when it is of low density. Higher density targets (like the human body) will reflect or absorb the X-rays. They do this because there is less space between the atoms for the short waves to pass through. Thus, an X-ray image shows dark areas where the rays traveled completely through the target (such as with flesh). It shows light areas where the rays were blocked by dense material (such as bone).

Modern medical X-ray machines have been grouped into two categories: those that generate "hard" X-rays and those that generate "soft" X-rays. Soft X-rays are the kind used to photograph bones and internal organs. They operate at a relatively low frequency and, unless they are repeated too often, cause little damage to tissues. Hard X-rays are very high frequency rays. They are designed to destroy the molecules within specific cells, thus destroying tissue. Hard X-rays are used in radiotherapy, a treatment for cancer. The high voltage necessary to generate hard X-rays is usually produced using cyclotrons or synchrotrons. These machines are variations of particle accelerators (atom smashers). One of the more familiar X-ray machines is the security scanner used to examine baggage at airports. These machines use a very low-power scanner. They illuminate the interior of purses and suitcases without causing damage to the contents.

Done by : Ruhui Jamie David Ethan