List of days of the year

08 November - Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered "X-ray"

 


On November 8, 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, a German physicist, made a groundbreaking discovery while experimenting with electricity. He was working with a cathode ray tube in a darkened room and noticed that a screen coated with a phosphorescent material began to glow even though it was not in the direct path of the cathode rays. He realized that some unknown type of rays or radiation was responsible for this effect.

Röntgen conducted further experiments and discovered that these mysterious rays had the ability to pass through many substances, including human flesh, but were blocked by denser materials like bones and metals. He named these new rays "X-rays" due to their unknown nature.

This discovery revolutionized the field of medicine and had numerous applications, particularly in diagnostic imaging, allowing doctors to see inside the human body without invasive procedures. X-rays have since become an indispensable tool in various fields, including medicine, industry, and scientific research. Röntgen's discovery earned him the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

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