Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, b. Mar. 27, 1845, d. Feb. 10, 1923 

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On November 8, 1895, at the University of Wurzburg, Wilhelm Rontgen's attention was drawn to a glowing fluorescent screen on a nearby table. Rontgen immediately Determined that the fluorescence was caused by invisible rays originating from the partially evacuated glass Hittorf-Crookes tube he was using to study cathode rays (i.e., electrons). Surprisingly, these mysterious rays penetrated the opaque black paper wrapped around the tube. Rontgen had discovered X rays, a momentous event that instantly revolutionized the field of physics and medicine.

However, pri or to his first formal correspondence to the University Physical-Medical Society, Rontgen spent two monthsthoroughly investigating the properties of X rays. Silvanus Thompson complained that Rontgen left "little for others to do beyond elaborating his work."

Within months of their discovery, x-rays proved their usefulness as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in medicine. X-rays allowed physicians their first non-invasive look inside the human body. Using the equipment pictured above Roentgen was able to produce this radiograph of his wife's hand

after an exposure of more than 30 minutes.

 Less than a month later, in January 1896, Lindenthal produced the first contrast-enhanced radiograph of the veins of the hand.

In March 1896, Pupin became the first to use the intensifying screen, without which most common radiologic exams would be impossible. In

 June 1896, only 6 months after Roentgen announced his discovery, x-rays were being used by battlefield physicians to locate bullets in wounded soldiers.

 For his discovery, Rontgen received the first Nobel Prize in physics in 1901. When later asked what his thoughts were at the moment of his discovery, he replied "I didn't think, I investigated." It was the crowning achievement in a career beset by more than its share of difficulties. As a student in Holland, Rontgen was expelled from the Utrecht Technical School for a prank committed by another student. Even after receiving a doctorate, his lack of a diploma initially prevented him from obtaining a position at the University of Wurzburg. He even was accused of having stolen the discovery of X rays by those who failed to observe them.

Nevertheless, Rontgen was a brilliant experimentalist who never sought honors or financial profit for his research. He rejected a title (i.e., von Rontgen) that would have provided entry into the German nobility, and donated the money he received from the Nobel Prize to his University. Rontgen did accept the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine offered to him by the medical faculty of his own University of Wurzburg. However, he refused to take out any patents in order that the world could freely benefit from his work. At the time of his death, Rontgen was nearly bankrupt from the inflation that followed WW I.