Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was a German physicist who produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays. As a result of this discovery, he became the first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. Born in Lennep in the Prussian Rhine Province, Röntgen studied at the Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich and later became a professor of physics at various German universities. On 8 November 1895, while experimenting with a Crookes tube, he noticed a fluorescent glow from a chemically coated screen nearby. He realized that invisible rays coming from the tube were causing the fluorescence. He called these mysterious rays "X-rays" because their nature was unknown. Röntgen's discovery revolutionized medicine by allowing doctors to see inside the human body without surgery. His first X-ray photograph was of his wife's hand, clearly showing her bones and wedding ring. The discovery of X-rays opened up new fields in physics and medicine, and Röntgen refused to patent his discovery, believing it should benefit all humanity.