X-Rays Were Discovered by Accident

In late 1895, German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen was working in his darkened laboratory, studying the properties of cathode rays with a vacuum tube. He had carefully covered the tube with black cardboard to block any visible light, but was startled to see a faint green glow on a nearby screen coated with a fluorescent material. This was perplexing, as the screen was too far away to be reacting to the cathode rays themselves. He realized he had stumbled upon a new, invisible form of radiation that could pass straight through the cardboard shield.

Seized by the mystery, Röntgen dedicated the next several weeks to meticulously investigating the phenomenon, often eating and sleeping in his lab. He confirmed that these unknown rays could pass through paper, wood, and even his own flesh, but were blocked by denser materials like bone and lead. Because their fundamental nature was a complete puzzle, he temporarily named them "X-rays," with "X" representing the unknown variable. To create a permanent record, he asked his wife, Anna Bertha, to place her hand in the path of the rays, capturing a startling image on a photographic plate.

The resulting picture, clearly showing the bones within her hand and the dark silhouette of her wedding ring, became the world's first X-ray photograph. The discovery was a global sensation. Within a year, doctors were using the technology to locate fractures and foreign objects like bullets in patients, revolutionizing the field of medical diagnostics almost overnight. For his groundbreaking work, Röntgen was awarded the very first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.