x-ray history

Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, a German scientist, discovered x-ray on November 8, 1895 when he was working with cathode rays, light phenomena and electrical currents in highly evacuated glass tubes. That next month he presented a x-ray of his wife’s hand to the Wurzburg Physical-Medical Society. He discovered that x-rays (using the mathematical symbol “x” for the unknown quantity, he called his discovery x-ray) could be recorded on photographic film in order to make them permanent. By January 1896, x-rays were used in a hospital (Oden, 2004 and Lentle, 2003).

what is x-ray

X-ray belongs in the same category as visible light, radio waves, ultraviolet and microwave. All these are electromagnetic energy. One end of the spectrum has radio waves while the opposite end has gamma rays. Visible light is in the center of the scale. Only visible light can be seen with the eye. Radio waves has a longer wavelength, lower frequencies and lower energy than gamma rays. The gamma rays have short wavelengths, high frequency and high energy. X-Ray is on the gamma ray end. “Because of their short wave length, x-ray can penetrate materials that normally reflect or absorb visible light. Like light, x-rays can produce a visible image on photographic film