Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen
Encyclopedia
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈʁœntɡən; 27 March 1845 – 10 February 1923) was a German
physicist
, who, on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation
in a wavelength
range today known as X-ray
s or Röntgen rays, an achievement that earned him the first Nobel Prize in Physics
in 1901.
) in Rhenish Prussia as the only child of a merchant and manufacturer of cloth. His mother was Charlotte Constanze Frowein of Amsterdam
. In March 1848, the family moved to Apeldoorn
and Wilhelm was raised in the Netherlands
. He received his early education at the boarding school
, Institute of Martinus Herman van Doorn
, in Apeldoorn. From 1861 to 1863, he attended the ambachtsschool
in Utrecht
. He was expelled for refusing to reveal the identity of a classmate guilty of drawing an unflattering portrait of one of the school's teachers. Not only was he expelled, he subsequently found that he could not gain admittance into any other Dutch or German gymnasium
.
In 1865, he tried to attend the University of Utrecht
without having the necessary credentials required for a regular student. Upon hearing that he could enter the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich
(today known as the ETH Zurich
), he passed its examinations, and began studies there as a student of mechanical engineering
. In 1869, he graduated with a Ph.D.
from the University of Zurich
; once there, he became a favorite student of Professor August Kundt
, whom he followed to the University of Strassburg in 1873.
at the Academy of Agriculture
at Hohenheim
, Württemberg
. He returned to Strassburg as a professor of physics in 1876, and in 1879, he was appointed to the chair of physics at the University of Giessen
. In 1888, he obtained the physics chair at the University of Würzburg
, and in 1900 at the University of Munich, by special request of the Bavaria
n government
. Röntgen had family in Iowa
in the United States and at one time planned to emigrate. Although he accepted an appointment at Columbia University
in New York City
and had actually purchased transatlantic tickets, the outbreak of World War I
changed his plans and he remained in Munich for the rest of his career.
During 1895 Röntgen was investigating the external effects from the various types of vacuum tube equipment — apparatuses from Heinrich Hertz, Johann Hittorf, William Crookes
, Nikola Tesla
and Philipp von Lenard — when an electrical discharge is passed through them.[7] In early November, he was repeating an experiment with one of Lenard's tubes in which a thin aluminium window had been added to permit the cathode rays to exit the tube but a cardboard covering was added to protect the aluminium from damage by the strong electrostatic field that is necessary to produce the cathode rays. He knew the cardboard covering prevented light from escaping, yet Röntgen observed that the invisible cathode rays caused a fluorescent effect on a small cardboard screen painted with barium platinocyanide
when it was placed close to the aluminium
window. It occurred to Röntgen that the Hittorf-Crookes tube, which had a much thicker glass wall than the Lenard tube, might also cause this fluorescent effect.
In the late afternoon of 8 November 1895, Röntgen determined to test his idea. He carefully constructed a black cardboard covering similar to the one he had used on the Lenard tube. He covered the Hittorf-Crookes tube with the cardboard and attached electrodes to a Ruhmkorff coil to generate an electrostatic charge. Before setting up the barium platinocyanide
screen to test his idea, Röntgen darkened the room to test the opacity
of his cardboard cover. As he passed the Ruhmkorff coil charge through the tube, he determined that the cover was light-tight and turned to prepare the next step of the experiment. It was at this point that Röntgen noticed a faint shimmering from a bench a meter away from the tube. To be sure, he tried several more discharges and saw the same shimmering each time. Striking a match, he discovered the shimmering had come from the location of the barium platinocyanide
screen he had been intending to use next.
Röntgen speculated that a new kind of ray might be responsible. 8 November was a Friday, so he took advantage of the weekend to repeat his experiments and make his first notes. In the following weeks he ate and slept in his laboratory as he investigated many properties of the new rays he temporarily termed "X-rays", using the mathematical designation for something unknown. Although the new rays would eventually come to bear his name in many languages as "Röntgen Rays" (and the associated X-ray radiograms
as "Röntgenograms"),
he always preferred the term X-rays ("X-ray" overtook "Röntgenogram" in popular usage by the year 1980.)
Nearly two weeks after his discovery, he took the very first picture using x-rays of his wife's hand, Anna Bertha. When she saw her skeleton she exclaimed "I have seen my death!"
The idea that Röntgen noticed the shimmering of the barium platinocyanide
screen simply through good fortune misrepresents his investigative powers; he had planned to use the screen in the next step of his experiment and would therefore have made the discovery a few moments later regardless.
At one point while he was investigating the ability of various materials to stop the rays, Röntgen brought a small piece of lead into position while a discharge was occurring. Röntgen thus saw the first radiographic image, his own flickering ghostly skeleton on the barium platinocyanide
screen. He later reported that it was at this point that he determined to continue his experiments in secrecy, because he feared for his professional reputation if his observations were in error.
Röntgen's original paper, "On A New Kind Of Rays" (Über eine neue Art von Strahlen), was published 50 days later on 28 December 1895. On 5 January 1896, an Austrian newspaper reported Röntgen's discovery of a new type of radiation. Röntgen was awarded an honorary Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Würzburg after his discovery. He published a total of three papers on X-rays between 1895 and 1897. Today, Röntgen is considered the father of diagnostic radiology, the medical specialty which uses imaging to diagnose disease.
Röntgen died on 10 February 1923 from carcinoma
of the intestine. It is not believed his carcinoma was a result of his work with ionizing radiation because of the brief time he spent on those investigations, and because he was one of the few pioneers in the field who used protective lead shields routinely. In keeping with his will, all his personal and scientific correspondence were destroyed upon his death.
. The award was officially "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him". Röntgen donated the monetary reward from his Nobel Prize to his university. Like Pierre Curie
, Röntgen refused to take out patent
s related to his discovery, as he wanted mankind as a whole to benefit from practical applications of the same (personal statement). He did not even want the rays to be named after him.
-Lennep, 40 kilometers east of Düsseldorf
, the house in which Roentgen was born in 1845 is the Deutsches Röntgen-Museum.
In many languages, Röntgen's name (or a local linguistic derivative) is used to refer to radiology and its products instead of the term "x-ray", which Röntgen himself coined. Some examples are the Japanese "rentogen", the Lithuanian "rentgeno", the Hebrew "rentgen", the Croatian "rentgen", Turkish "röntgen" and many others.
The Philips Medical System diagnostic radiography research and development division in Hamburg DE is on Röntgenstrasse (Röntgen Street).
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
physicist
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, who, on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation
Electromagnetic radiation
Electromagnetic radiation is a form of energy that exhibits wave-like behavior as it travels through space...
in a wavelength
Wavelength
In physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.It is usually determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings, and is a...
range today known as X-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
s or Röntgen rays, an achievement that earned him the first Nobel Prize in Physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
in 1901.
Biography
Röntgen was born in Lennep (which is today a borough of RemscheidRemscheid
Remscheid is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is, after Wuppertal and Solingen, the third largest municipality in Bergisches Land, being located on the northern edge of the region, on south side of the Ruhr area....
) in Rhenish Prussia as the only child of a merchant and manufacturer of cloth. His mother was Charlotte Constanze Frowein of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. In March 1848, the family moved to Apeldoorn
Apeldoorn
Apeldoorn is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland, about 60 miles south east of Amsterdam, in the centre of the Netherlands. It is a regional centre and has 155,000 . The municipality of Apeldoorn, including villages like Beekbergen, Loenen and Hoenderloo, has over 155,000...
and Wilhelm was raised in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. He received his early education at the boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
, Institute of Martinus Herman van Doorn
Institute of Martinus Herman van Doorn
The Institute of Martinus Herman van Doorn is a private boarding school in Apeldoorn, Netherlands....
, in Apeldoorn. From 1861 to 1863, he attended the ambachtsschool
Ambachtsschool
The Ambachtsschool in Heerlen is a brick building with distinctive layers of marl . It is notable as one of the earliest vocational schools in the Netherlands...
in Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
. He was expelled for refusing to reveal the identity of a classmate guilty of drawing an unflattering portrait of one of the school's teachers. Not only was he expelled, he subsequently found that he could not gain admittance into any other Dutch or German gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
.
In 1865, he tried to attend the University of Utrecht
Utrecht University
Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....
without having the necessary credentials required for a regular student. Upon hearing that he could enter the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
(today known as the ETH Zurich
ETH Zurich
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich or ETH Zürich is an engineering, science, technology, mathematics and management university in the City of Zurich, Switzerland....
), he passed its examinations, and began studies there as a student of mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
. In 1869, he graduated with a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
from the University of Zurich
University of Zurich
The University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 25,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy....
; once there, he became a favorite student of Professor August Kundt
August Kundt
August Adolf Eduard Eberhard Kundt was a German physicist.-Biography:Kundt was born at Schwerin in Mecklenburg. He began his scientific studies at Leipzig, but afterwards went to Berlin University. At first he devoted himself to astronomy, but coming under the influence of H. G...
, whom he followed to the University of Strassburg in 1873.
Career
In 1874 Röntgen became a lecturer at the University of Strassburg. In 1875 he became a professorProfessor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at the Academy of Agriculture
University of Hohenheim
The University of Hohenheim is a university in Stuttgart, Germany. Founded in 1818 it is Stuttgart's oldest university and one of Germany's leading universities both in agricultural sciences and economics.-History:...
at Hohenheim
Hohenheim
Stuttgart-Hohenheim is a quarter of Plieningen, one of the 18 outer districts of Stuttgart, the state capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany...
, Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
. He returned to Strassburg as a professor of physics in 1876, and in 1879, he was appointed to the chair of physics at the University of Giessen
University of Giessen
The University of Giessen is officially called the Justus Liebig University Giessen after its most famous faculty member, Justus von Liebig, the founder of modern agricultural chemistry and inventor of artificial fertiliser.-History:The University of Gießen is among the oldest institutions of...
. In 1888, he obtained the physics chair at the University of Würzburg
University of Würzburg
The University of Würzburg is a university in Würzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the distinguished Coimbra Group.-Name:...
, and in 1900 at the University of Munich, by special request of the Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
. Röntgen had family in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
in the United States and at one time planned to emigrate. Although he accepted an appointment at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and had actually purchased transatlantic tickets, the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
changed his plans and he remained in Munich for the rest of his career.
During 1895 Röntgen was investigating the external effects from the various types of vacuum tube equipment — apparatuses from Heinrich Hertz, Johann Hittorf, William Crookes
William Crookes
Sir William Crookes, OM, FRS was a British chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, London, and worked on spectroscopy...
, Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
and Philipp von Lenard — when an electrical discharge is passed through them.[7] In early November, he was repeating an experiment with one of Lenard's tubes in which a thin aluminium window had been added to permit the cathode rays to exit the tube but a cardboard covering was added to protect the aluminium from damage by the strong electrostatic field that is necessary to produce the cathode rays. He knew the cardboard covering prevented light from escaping, yet Röntgen observed that the invisible cathode rays caused a fluorescent effect on a small cardboard screen painted with barium platinocyanide
Platinocyanide
A platinocyanide is a salt containing the anion Pt42-. Barium platinocyanide, BaPt4, was important in the discovery of X-rays, and in the development of the fluoroscope. One platinocyanide salt with interesting conductive properties is Krogmann's salt....
when it was placed close to the aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
window. It occurred to Röntgen that the Hittorf-Crookes tube, which had a much thicker glass wall than the Lenard tube, might also cause this fluorescent effect.
In the late afternoon of 8 November 1895, Röntgen determined to test his idea. He carefully constructed a black cardboard covering similar to the one he had used on the Lenard tube. He covered the Hittorf-Crookes tube with the cardboard and attached electrodes to a Ruhmkorff coil to generate an electrostatic charge. Before setting up the barium platinocyanide
Platinocyanide
A platinocyanide is a salt containing the anion Pt42-. Barium platinocyanide, BaPt4, was important in the discovery of X-rays, and in the development of the fluoroscope. One platinocyanide salt with interesting conductive properties is Krogmann's salt....
screen to test his idea, Röntgen darkened the room to test the opacity
Opacity
Opacity may refer to:*Opacity , the degree to which light is not allowed to travel through*Opaque context, a term to describe the linguistic context of co-referential terms*Phonological opacity, a term in phonology...
of his cardboard cover. As he passed the Ruhmkorff coil charge through the tube, he determined that the cover was light-tight and turned to prepare the next step of the experiment. It was at this point that Röntgen noticed a faint shimmering from a bench a meter away from the tube. To be sure, he tried several more discharges and saw the same shimmering each time. Striking a match, he discovered the shimmering had come from the location of the barium platinocyanide
Platinocyanide
A platinocyanide is a salt containing the anion Pt42-. Barium platinocyanide, BaPt4, was important in the discovery of X-rays, and in the development of the fluoroscope. One platinocyanide salt with interesting conductive properties is Krogmann's salt....
screen he had been intending to use next.
Röntgen speculated that a new kind of ray might be responsible. 8 November was a Friday, so he took advantage of the weekend to repeat his experiments and make his first notes. In the following weeks he ate and slept in his laboratory as he investigated many properties of the new rays he temporarily termed "X-rays", using the mathematical designation for something unknown. Although the new rays would eventually come to bear his name in many languages as "Röntgen Rays" (and the associated X-ray radiograms
Radiography
Radiography is the use of X-rays to view a non-uniformly composed material such as the human body. By using the physical properties of the ray an image can be developed which displays areas of different density and composition....
as "Röntgenograms"),
he always preferred the term X-rays ("X-ray" overtook "Röntgenogram" in popular usage by the year 1980.)
Nearly two weeks after his discovery, he took the very first picture using x-rays of his wife's hand, Anna Bertha. When she saw her skeleton she exclaimed "I have seen my death!"
The idea that Röntgen noticed the shimmering of the barium platinocyanide
Platinocyanide
A platinocyanide is a salt containing the anion Pt42-. Barium platinocyanide, BaPt4, was important in the discovery of X-rays, and in the development of the fluoroscope. One platinocyanide salt with interesting conductive properties is Krogmann's salt....
screen simply through good fortune misrepresents his investigative powers; he had planned to use the screen in the next step of his experiment and would therefore have made the discovery a few moments later regardless.
At one point while he was investigating the ability of various materials to stop the rays, Röntgen brought a small piece of lead into position while a discharge was occurring. Röntgen thus saw the first radiographic image, his own flickering ghostly skeleton on the barium platinocyanide
Platinocyanide
A platinocyanide is a salt containing the anion Pt42-. Barium platinocyanide, BaPt4, was important in the discovery of X-rays, and in the development of the fluoroscope. One platinocyanide salt with interesting conductive properties is Krogmann's salt....
screen. He later reported that it was at this point that he determined to continue his experiments in secrecy, because he feared for his professional reputation if his observations were in error.
Röntgen's original paper, "On A New Kind Of Rays" (Über eine neue Art von Strahlen), was published 50 days later on 28 December 1895. On 5 January 1896, an Austrian newspaper reported Röntgen's discovery of a new type of radiation. Röntgen was awarded an honorary Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Würzburg after his discovery. He published a total of three papers on X-rays between 1895 and 1897. Today, Röntgen is considered the father of diagnostic radiology, the medical specialty which uses imaging to diagnose disease.
Personal life
Röntgen was married to Anna Bertha Ludwig (m. 1872, d. 1919) and had one child, Josephine Bertha Ludwig. Adopted at age 6, in 1887, she was the daughter of Anna's brother.Röntgen died on 10 February 1923 from carcinoma
Carcinoma
Carcinoma is the medical term for the most common type of cancer occurring in humans. Put simply, a carcinoma is a cancer that begins in a tissue that lines the inner or outer surfaces of the body, and that generally arises from cells originating in the endodermal or ectodermal germ layer during...
of the intestine. It is not believed his carcinoma was a result of his work with ionizing radiation because of the brief time he spent on those investigations, and because he was one of the few pioneers in the field who used protective lead shields routinely. In keeping with his will, all his personal and scientific correspondence were destroyed upon his death.
Honours and awards
In 1901 Röntgen was awarded the very first Nobel Prize in PhysicsNobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
. The award was officially "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him". Röntgen donated the monetary reward from his Nobel Prize to his university. Like Pierre Curie
Pierre Curie
Pierre Curie was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity and radioactivity, and Nobel laureate. He was the son of Dr. Eugène Curie and Sophie-Claire Depouilly Curie ...
, Röntgen refused to take out patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s related to his discovery, as he wanted mankind as a whole to benefit from practical applications of the same (personal statement). He did not even want the rays to be named after him.
- Rumford MedalRumford MedalThe Rumford Medal is awarded by the Royal Society every alternating year for "an outstandingly important recent discovery in the field of thermal or optical properties of matter made by a scientist working in Europe". First awarded in 1800, it was created after a 1796 donation of $5000 by the...
(1896) - Matteucci MedalMatteucci MedalThe Matteucci Medal was established to award physicists for their fundamental contributions. Under an Italian Royal Decree dated July 10, 1870, the Italian Society of Sciences was authorized to receive a donation from Carlo Matteucci for the establishment of the Prize.Matteucci Medalists* 1868...
(1896) - Elliott Cresson MedalElliott Cresson MedalThe Elliott Cresson Medal, also known as the Elliott Cresson Gold Medal, was the highest award given by the Franklin Institute. The award was established by Elliott Cresson, life member of the Franklin Institute, with $1,000 granted in 1848...
(1897) - Nobel Prize for Physics (1901)
- In November 2004 IUPAC named element number 111 RoentgeniumRoentgeniumRoentgenium is a synthetic radioactive chemical element with the symbol Rg and atomic number 111. It is placed as the heaviest member of the group 11 elements, although a sufficiently stable isotope has not yet been produced in a sufficient amount that would confirm this position as a heavier...
(Rg) in his honour. IUPAP also adopted the name in November 2011.
Legacy
Today, in RemscheidRemscheid
Remscheid is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is, after Wuppertal and Solingen, the third largest municipality in Bergisches Land, being located on the northern edge of the region, on south side of the Ruhr area....
-Lennep, 40 kilometers east of Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, the house in which Roentgen was born in 1845 is the Deutsches Röntgen-Museum.
In many languages, Röntgen's name (or a local linguistic derivative) is used to refer to radiology and its products instead of the term "x-ray", which Röntgen himself coined. Some examples are the Japanese "rentogen", the Lithuanian "rentgeno", the Hebrew "rentgen", the Croatian "rentgen", Turkish "röntgen" and many others.
The Philips Medical System diagnostic radiography research and development division in Hamburg DE is on Röntgenstrasse (Röntgen Street).
External links
- Biography at the official Nobel site
- Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen
- Annotated bibliography for Wilhelm Rontgen from the Alsos Digital Library
- Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen Biography
- The Cathode Ray Tube site
- First X-ray Photogram
- The American Roentgen Ray Society
- The Deutsches Röntgen-Museum
- WC Roentgen – Medcyclopedia
- Röntgen Rays: Memoirs by Röntgen, Stokes, and J.J. Thomson (circa 1899)
- Some places and memories related to Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen on Himetop - The History of Medicine Topographical Database
- The New Marvel in Photography, an article on and interview with Röntgen, in McClure'sMcClure'sMcClure's or McClure's Magazine was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century. The magazine is credited with creating muckraking journalism. Ida Tarbell's series in 1902 exposing the monopoly abuses of John D...
magazine, Vol. 6, No. 5, April, 1896, from Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...