Historical Figure
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen
b. 1845
One of five prizes established in 1895 by Alfred Nobel
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Biography
The Nobel Prize in Physics is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901, the others being the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
In Their Own Words (4)
Having discovered the existence of a new kind of rays, I of course began to investigate what they would do. … It soon appeared from tests that the rays had penetrative power to a degree hitherto unknown. They penetrated paper, wood, and cloth with ease; and the thickness of the substance made no perceptible difference, within reasonable limits. … The rays passed through all the metals tested, with a facility varying, roughly speaking, with the density of the metal. These phenomena I have discussed carefully in my report to the Würzburg society, and you will find all the technical results therein stated.
1896
I was working with a Crookes tube covered by a shield of black cardboard. A piece of barium platino-cyanide paper lay on the bench there. I had been passing a current through the tube, and I noticed a peculiar black line across the paper. … The effect was one which could only be produced, in ordinary parlance, by the passage of light. No light could come from the tube, because the shield which covered it was impervious to any light known, even that of the electric arc. … I did not think; I investigated. I assumed that the effect must have come from the tube, since its character indicated that it could come from nowhere else. I tested it. In a few minutes there was no doubt about it. Rays were coming from the tube which had a luminescent effect upon the paper. I tried it successfully at greater and greater distances, even at two metres. It seemed at first a new kind of invisible light. It was clearly something new, something unrecorded.
1896
I am not a prophet, and I am opposed to prophesying. I am pursuing my investigations, and as fast as my results are verified I shall make them public.
1896
We shall see what we shall see. We have the start now; the developments will follow in time.
1896
Timeline
The story of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, told in moments.
Earned his PhD from the University of Zurich. Worked as a physics professor across several German universities. Meticulous experimenter. Colleagues found him methodical to the point of obsession.
While experimenting with cathode rays in a darkened room in Wurzburg, noticed a fluorescent screen glowing several feet away. Something invisible was passing through the cardboard covering his tube. He called it X-radiation.
Took an X-ray photograph of his wife Anna Bertha's hand. The image showed her bones and wedding ring. "I have seen my death," she said. Rontgen published his findings six days later.
Received the first Nobel Prize in Physics. Donated the entire cash award to his university. Refused to patent the X-ray process. He believed scientific discoveries should belong to everyone.
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