Father of

The X-ray
•1845 born Germany
•1848 raised in the Netherlands
•1869 Ph.D. Mech. Eng., Zurich
•1895 discovery of X-rays
•1901 wins first Nobel in Physics
•1923 dies
 Early Work

•specific heat of gases

•electrical & chemical
properties of quartz
•effects of pressure on
refractive indices of liquids
“Crookes” Tube
Roentgen’s X-Rays

•Nov. 8th, 1895

•not an accident
First Lady of X-
Ray
 Instant Renown
• January 6, 1896 - News Cabled from the London
Standard
• The noise of war's alarm should not distract
attention from the marvelous triumph of science
which is reported from Vienna. It is announced
that Professor Routgen (sic) of the Wurzburg
University has discovered a light which for the
purpose of photography will penetrate wood,
flesh, cloth, and most other organic substances.
The Professor has succeeded in photographing
metal weights which were in a closed wooden
case, also a man's hand which showed only the
bones, the flesh being invisible.
Roentgen Legacy

• Medical x-rays
• Industrial
diagnostics
•many wave/particle questions
•X-rays did not diffract or
refract BUT penetrated solids
•Max von Laue hypothesis->
Friedrich & Knipping exp’ts.
• William Lawrence & William
Henry Bragg determine
wavelength of x-rays
• Braggs change diagnostic tool
for x-rays into tool for
studying crystals
• Barkla & others bombard
different elements with x-rays &
find “hard”, “soft” reflections
• 1914 Henry Gwyn-Jeffries
Moseley measures wavelength of
reflections: atomic order!
• Henri Becquerel was seeking
a connection between
fluorescence and x-rays when
he found … (go, Libby!)