Wilhelm Roentgen. X-ray radiation

At the beginning of November this year, employees of the London Science Museum surveyed 50 thousand people. Participants were asked to name the great discoveries and inventions of modern times that they considered the most outstanding. 10 thousand of them indicated that of all the great discoveries and inventions, it was the X-ray that had the greatest impact on the past, present and future of mankind.

X-rays made it possible for the first time to look inside objects without disturbing their structure, and allowed doctors to look into the human body without performing surgery. The discovery and use of X-rays was ahead of all existing advances in engineering.

The inventor of X-rays, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923), German physicist, from 1875 a professor in Hohenheim, in 1876 a professor of physics in Strasbourg, from 1879 in Giessen, from 1885 in Würzburg, from 1899 in Munich. The physicist's work was mainly carried out in the field of the relationship between light and electrical phenomena. In 1895, Wilhelm Conrad discovered radiation called x-rays and studied its properties. Roentgen made some discoveries about the properties of crystals and magnetism.

All the great inventions and discoveries of the physicist are described in detail in the works created by the scientist Roentgen Wilhelm Conrad was the first laureate of the Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded to him in 1901 “In recognition of unusually important services to science, expressed in the discovery of remarkable rays,” which were later named in his honor . This discovery truly turned out to be the great discovery of the century.

Discovery of the rays
The main discovery in his life was X-rays (later called X-rays), Roentgen Wilhelm Conrad made when he was already 50 years old. As the head of the physics department at the University of Würzburg, he used to stay late in the laboratory, when his assistants went home, Roentgen continued to work.

As usual, one day he turned on the current in the cathode tube, tightly closed on all sides with black paper. Barium platinocyanide crystals lying nearby began to glow greenish. The scientist turned off the current - the glow of the crystals stopped. When voltage was reapplied to the cathode tube, the glow in the crystals resumed.

As a result of further research, the scientist came to the conclusion that unknown radiation was emanating from the tube, which he later called X-rays. At this moment, a great discovery appeared to the world. Roentgen's experiments showed that X-rays originate at the point where cathode rays collide with an obstacle inside the cathode tube.

To conduct research, the scientist invented a tube of a special design in which the anticathode was flat, which ensured an intensification of the flow of X-rays. Thanks to this tube (it would later be called X-ray), he studied and described the basic properties of previously unknown radiation, which was called “X-ray”.

Physical properties of X-rays

As a result of the research, discoveries were made and the properties of X-rays were recorded: X-rays are capable of penetrating through many opaque materials, while X-rays are not reflected or refracted. If electric current discharges are passed through a sufficiently rarefied tube, then special rays emanating from the tube are observed.

Firstly, they cause fluorescence (glow) of platinum barium bluehydride, secondly, they easily pass through cardboard, paper, thick layers of wood (2-3 cm) and aluminum (up to 15 mm thick), thirdly, rays are blocked by metals, bones, etc. The rays do not have the ability to be reflected, refracted, interfere, do not experience diffraction, do not undergo birefringence and cannot be polarized.

X-rays made the first photographs using X-rays. Another discovery was also made that X-ray radiation ionizes the surrounding air and illuminates photographic plates.

Use of the invention around the world

Various devices have been invented to use open X-rays. To photograph parts of the human body using X-rays, an X-ray machine was invented, which found application in surgery: the soft tissues of the human body transmit the rays, but bones, as well as metals, a ring, for example, block them. Later, such photography became known as fluoroscopy, which was also one of the great inventions of the century.

This great discovery and invention of the German scientist greatly influenced the development of science. Experiments and studies using X-rays helped to obtain new information about the structure of matter, which, together with other discoveries of that time, forced us to reconsider a number of principles of classical physics. After a short period of time, X-ray tubes found application not only in medicine, but also in various fields of technology.

Representatives of industrial companies approached Roentgen more than once with offers to profitably purchase the rights to use the invention. But Wilhelm refused to patent the discovery, since he did not consider his research a source of income.

By 1919, X-ray tubes had become widespread and were used in many countries. Thanks to them, new areas of science and technology have emerged - radiology, X-ray diagnostics, X-ray measurements, X-ray structural analysis, etc. X-rays are used in many fields of science. With the help of the latest inventions and devices, more and more discoveries are being made in medicine, space, archeology and other fields.

What was the background to the invention of X-rays?

Currently, modern science is making a number of discoveries in the field of research of the human body. Everyone knows that in ancient times all the great doctors had psychic abilities. From historical records it is known that in China there were doctors such as Sun Simiao, Hua Tuo, Li Shizhen, Bian Tsue - all of them had extrasensory abilities, that is, they could see the insides of a person without x-rays and, based on what they saw, make a diagnosis.

Therefore, the treatment effect was much better than at present. How could these doctors of ancient times differ from ordinary people? Based on the discovery made by science, we can conclude that light is needed to illuminate the body. This means that these doctors possessed such energy that they used it as X-rays to illuminate the patient’s body. Where did these ancient physicians get such electricity-like energy from?

When there was a rise in qigong practice in China in the 90s, many qigong masters were examined. Research has shown that there is an energy in their body that ordinary people do not have. Where did this energy come from for qigong masters? This energy appeared as a result of practicing qigong, that is, as a result of self-improvement.

Science has come to the aid of man - the great invention of mankind, the X-ray, allows people to compensate for the lost ability to see things insightfully. X-ray does what man had by nature, but lost over time. To have these abilities, a person needs to take the path of improving his soul and grow morally. Science can make a great discovery, while confirming what man had by nature.

Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (correctly Roentgen, German: Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen; March 27, 1845 - February 10, 1923) - German physicist. The first Nobel Prize laureate in the history of physics (1901).

Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen(correctly Roentgen, German Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen; March 27, 1845 - February 10, 1923) was a German physicist who worked at the University of Würzburg. From 1875 professor in Hohenheim (German: Hohenheim (Stuttgart)), 1876 professor of physics in Strasbourg, from 1879 in Giessen, from 1885 in Würzburg, from 1899 in Munich. The first Nobel Prize laureate in the history of physics (1901).

Biography

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was born near Düsseldorf, in Westphalian Linnep (modern name Remscheid), the only child in the family. The father was a merchant and clothing manufacturer. Mother, Charlotte Constanza (nee Frowein), was from Amsterdam. In March 1848, the family moved to Apeldoorn (Holland). Wilhelm received his first education at the private school of Martinus von Dorn. Since 1861, he attended the Utrecht Technical School, but in 1863 he was expelled due to his refusal to hand over the caricature of one of the teachers.

In 1865, Roentgen tried to enter the University of Utrecht, despite the fact that according to the rules he could not be a student at this university. He then took exams at the Federal Polytechnic Institute of Zurich and became a student in the mechanical engineering department, after which he graduated in 1869 with a Ph.D.

However, realizing that he was more interested in physics, Roentgen decided to go to university. After successfully defending his thesis, he began work as an assistant at the Department of Physics in Zurich, and then in Giessen. Between 1871 and 1873, Wilhelm worked at the University of Würzburg, and then, together with his professor August Adolf Kundt, moved to the University of Strasbourg in 1874, where he worked for five years as a lecturer (until 1876) and then as a professor ( since 1876). Also in 1875, Wilhelm became a professor at the Academy of Agriculture in Cunningham (Wittenberg). Already in 1879, he was appointed to the department of physics at the University of Giessen, which he later headed. Since 1888, Roentgen headed the department of physics at the University of Würzburg, and later, in 1894, he was elected rector of this university. In 1900, Röntgen became the head of the physics department at the University of Munich - it became his last place of work. Later, upon reaching the age limit stipulated by the rules, he transferred the department to Wilhelm Wien, but still continued to work until the very end of his life.

Wilhelm Röntgen had relatives in the United States and wanted to emigrate, but even though he was accepted to Columbia University in New York, he remained in Munich, where his career continued.

Roentgen investigated the piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties of crystals, established the relationship between electrical and optical phenomena in crystals, and conducted research on magnetism, which served as one of the foundations of Hendrik Lorentz’s electronic theory.

Discovery of the rays

Despite the fact that Wilhelm Röntgen was a hardworking man and, as the head of the physics institute at the University of Würzburg, he used to stay late in the laboratory, he made the main discovery in his life - X-rays - when he was already 50 years old. On November 8, 1895, when his assistants had already gone home, Röntgen continued to work. He turned on the current again in the cathode tube, covered on all sides with thick black paper. Barium platinocyanide crystals lying nearby began to glow greenish. The scientist turned off the current - the glow of the crystals stopped. When the voltage was reapplied to the cathode tube, the glow in the crystals, which were in no way connected with the device, resumed.

As a result of further research, the scientist came to the conclusion that unknown radiation was emanating from the tube, which he later called X-rays. Roentgen's experiments showed that X-rays arise at the point where cathode rays collide with an obstacle inside the cathode tube. The scientist made a tube of a special design - the anti-cathode was flat, which ensured an intense flow of X-rays. Thanks to this tube (it would later be called X-ray), he studied and described the basic properties of previously unknown radiation, which was called X-ray. As it turns out, X-rays can penetrate many opaque materials; however, it is not reflected or refracted. X-ray radiation ionizes the surrounding air and illuminates the photo plates. Roentgen also took the first photographs using X-rays.

The discovery of the German scientist greatly influenced the development of science. Experiments and studies using X-rays helped to obtain new information about the structure of matter, which, together with other discoveries of that time, forced us to reconsider a number of principles of classical physics. After a short period of time, X-ray tubes found application in medicine and various fields of technology.

By 1919, X-ray tubes had become widespread and were used in many countries. Thanks to them, new areas of science and technology emerged - radiology, x-ray diagnostics, x-ray measurements, x-ray diffraction analysis, etc.

Personal life

In 1872, Roentgen married Anna Bertha Ludwig, the daughter of a boarding house owner, whom he had met in Zurich while studying at the Federal Institute of Technology. Having no children of their own, the couple adopted six-year-old Bertha, daughter of Roentgen's brother, in 1881. His wife died in 1919, at that time the scientist was 74 years old. After the end of the First World War, the scientist found himself completely alone.

Awards

X-ray was an honest and very modest person. When the Prince Regent of Bavaria awarded the scientist a high order for his achievements in science, which gave him the right to a title of nobility and, accordingly, the addition of the particle “von” to his surname, Roentgen did not consider it possible for himself to claim the title of nobility. Wilhelm accepted the Nobel Prize in Physics, which he, the first physicist, was awarded in 1901, but refused to come to the award ceremony, citing being busy. The award was sent to him by mail. True, when the German government during the First World War asked the population to help the state with money and valuables, Wilhelm Roentgen gave away all his savings, including the Nobel Prize.

Memory

One of the first monuments to Wilhelm Röntgen was erected on January 29, 1920 in St. Petersburg (a temporary bust made of cement, a permanent one made of bronze was opened on February 17, 1928), in front of the building of the Central Research X-ray Radiological Institute (currently the institute is a department Radiology of the St. Petersburg State Medical University named after Academician I. P. Pavlov).

In 1923, after the death of Wilhelm Röntgen, a street in St. Petersburg was named after him. The unsystematic dose unit of gamma radiation, the Roentgen, is named in honor of the scientist.

X-ray at home in Moscow 8-495-22-555-6-8

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Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (German pron. Roentgen) (German Wilhelm Conrad R;ntgen; March 27, 1845 - February 10, 1923) - an outstanding German physicist who worked at the University of Würzburg. Since 1875 he has been a professor in Hohenheim, since 1876 - professor of physics in Strasbourg, since 1879 - in Giessen, since 1885 - in Würzburg, since 1899 - in Munich. The first Nobel Prize laureate in the history of physics (1901).

Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen was born on March 27, 1845 near Düsseldorf, in Westphalian Linnep (modern name Remscheid) as the only child in the family.
The father was a merchant and clothing manufacturer. Mother, Charlotte Constanza (nee Frowein), was from Amsterdam. In March 1848, the family moved to Apeldoorn (Netherlands). Wilhelm received his first education at the private school of Martinus von Dorn. Since 1861, he attended the Utrecht Technical School, but in 1863 he was expelled due to his refusal to hand over the caricature of one of the teachers.

However, realizing that he was more interested in physics, Roentgen decided to go to university. After successfully defending his thesis, he began work as an assistant at the Department of Physics in Zurich, and then in Giessen. Between 1871 and 1873, Wilhelm worked at the University of Würzburg, and then, together with his professor August Adolf Kundt, moved to the University of Strasbourg in 1874, where he worked for five years as a lecturer (until 1876), and then as a professor (since 1876). Also in 1875, Wilhelm became a professor at the Academy of Agriculture in Cunningham (Wittenberg). Already in 1879, he was appointed to the department of physics at the University of Giessen, which he later headed. Since 1888, Roentgen headed the department of physics at the University of Würzburg, and later, in 1894, he was elected rector of this university. In 1900, Roentgen became the head of the department of physics at the University of Munich - it became his last place of work. Later, upon reaching the age limit stipulated by the rules, he transferred the department to Wilhelm Wien, but still continued to work until the very end of his life.

Wilhelm Roentgen had relatives in the United States and wanted to emigrate, but even though he was accepted to Columbia University in New York, he remained in Munich, where his career continued.

Career

Discovery of the rays

Despite the fact that Wilhelm Roentgen was a hardworking man and, as the head of the physics institute at the University of Würzburg, had the habit of staying late in the laboratory, he made the main discovery in his life - X-rays - when he was already 50 years old. On November 8, 1895, when his assistants had already gone home, Roentgen continued to work. He turned on the current again in the cathode tube, covered on all sides with thick black paper. Barium platinocyanide crystals lying nearby began to glow greenish. The scientist turned off the current - the glow of the crystals stopped. When voltage was reapplied to the cathode tube, the glow in the crystals, which were in no way connected with the device, resumed.

As a result of further research, the scientist came to the conclusion that unknown radiation was emanating from the tube, which he later called X-rays. Roentgen's experiments showed that X-rays originate at the point where cathode rays collide with an obstacle inside the cathode tube. The scientist made a tube of a special design - the anti-cathode was flat, which ensured an intense flow of X-rays. Thanks to this tube (it would later be called X-ray), he studied and described the basic properties of previously unknown radiation, which was called X-ray. As it turns out, X-rays can penetrate many opaque materials; however, it is not reflected or refracted. X-ray radiation ionizes the surrounding air and illuminates photographic plates. Roentgen also took the first photographs using X-rays.

Awards

Memory

One of the first monuments to Wilhelm Roentgen was erected on January 29, 1920 in Petrograd (a temporary bust made of cement, a permanent one made of bronze was opened on February 17, 1928), in front of the building of the Central Research X-ray Radiological Institute (currently the institute is the Department of Radiology of St. -Petersburg State Medical University named after Academician I. P. Pavlov).

In 1923, after the death of Wilhelm Roentgen, a street in St. Petersburg was named after him. The off-system dose unit of gamma radiation, the roentgen, is named in honor of the scientist.

The first victims of radiation, doctors, without saying a word, call its discoverers - scientists who worked with radioactive substances without any protection. The researchers thought only about the enormous possibilities that radiation opened up for them, and carried out experiments literally with their bare hands.
Physicist Marie Curie, who managed to isolate a new chemical element - radium, did not part with a “talisman” - a sealed test tube with a gram of radium inside. Until the end of her days, she was forced to wear black gloves to hide traces of ulcers - the consequences of radiation. And she died from leukemia caused by radiation. But neither she herself nor the doctors of that time even suspected the true causes of her ailments.

Wilhelm Roentgen, the physicist who made the world's first X-ray, has died of cancer.

THE MAN WHO “ENLIGHTED” THE WORLD

X-rays belong to everyone, to all of humanity... Works related to X-rays did not begin with me and will not end with me. What I have done is only a link in a great chain...
Wilhelm Roentgen

A year after Roentgen discovered X-rays, he received a letter from an English sailor: “Sir, since the war I have had a bullet stuck in my chest, but they cannot remove it because it is not visible. And so I heard that you found rays through which my bullet can be seen. If this is possible, send me some rays in an envelope, the doctors will find the bullet, and I will send you the rays back.”
Of course, Roentgen was slightly shocked; his answer was as follows: “At the moment I do not have that many rays. But if it’s not difficult for you, send me your chest, I will find the bullet and send you the chest back.”
From personal correspondence of V.K. X-ray

At the end of the 19th century, the invisible mysterious rays were named X-rays by the German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen, who discovered the famous X-rays.
The nature of the rays discovered by Roentgen was explained during his lifetime. X-rays turned out to be electromagnetic vibrations, like visible light, but with a vibration frequency thousands of times higher and with a correspondingly shorter wavelength. They are obtained by converting energy when cathode rays collide with the wall of a Hittorf tube, and it does not matter whether the tube consists of glass or metal, and they propagate in all directions at the speed of light.
In his experiment, Roentgen proved that rays invisible to the human eye act on a photographic plate; with their help, you can take pictures in a lighted room on a photographic plate enclosed in a cassette or wrapped in paper. The earliest photographs taken by Roentgen himself include a wooden box with weights enclosed in it and Mrs. Roentgen's left hand.

Immediately after its discovery, X-rays entered medical practice, where they were used to identify fractures. Then Roentgen drew attention to the applicability of X-rays for checking the production processing of materials, in confirmation of which he took a photograph of a double-barreled shotgun with a loaded cartridge, while the internal defects of the weapon were clearly visible. A little later, X-rays were used in forensics, art history, astronomy and other fields.

But the rays also carried a hidden danger. Along with x-ray diagnostics, x-ray therapy began to develop. Cancer, tuberculosis and other diseases receded under the influence of new rays. And since in the beginning the danger of X-ray radiation was unknown, and doctors worked without any protective measures, radiation injuries occurred very often. Many physicists also suffered slow-healing wounds or large scars. Hundreds of researchers and technicians who worked with X-rays became victims of radiation death in the first decades. Since at first the rays were used without a precise dosage proven by experience, X-ray irradiation often became disastrous for patients.

Roentgen studied electricity and even discovered a new type of current (the magnetic field of a moving electric charge), later called the “Roentgen current.” As for the X-rays he discovered, it should be noted that many of their researchers received serious burns and died from radiation sickness.
Roentgen himself, working for days in the laboratory, forgot about food and rest, which, of course, affected his well-being. He suffered from intestinal diseases and, exhausted from exhaustion, died from cancer of the internal organs.

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Roentgen Wilhelm Conrad | AMTN
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Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (correctly Roentgen, German Wilhelm Conrad R;ntgen; March 27, 1845 - February 10, 1923) was a German physicist who worked at the University of Würzburg.

The purpose of this article is to find out how the death of the outstanding German physicist, the first Nobel Prize laureate in the history of physics, WILHELM CONRAD ROENTGEN, is included in his FULL NAME code.

Watch "Logicology - about the fate of man" in advance.

Let's look at the FULL NAME code tables. \If there is a shift in numbers and letters on your screen, adjust the image scale\.

17 24 38 57 61 67 81 84 94 106 135 139 145 157 186 199 210 225 239 256 257 262
R E N T G E N V I L G E L M K O N R A D
262 245 238 224 205 201 195 181 178 168 156 127 123 117 105 76 63 52 37 23 6 1

3 13 25 54 58 64 76 105 118 129 144 158 175 176 181 198 205 219 238 242 248 262
V I L G E L M K O N R A D R E N T G E N
262 259 249 237 208 204 198 186 157 144 133 118 104 87 86 81 64 57 43 24 20 14

ROENTGEN WILHELM CONRAD = 262.

R(ak)+(severe)Ё(loe) (ill)N(ies) T(thick)G(o) (kish)E(h)N(ica)+(times)VI(la) (tumor)L +G(ib)EL+M(metastases)+CON(chin)+P(ak)+(fourth)A(i) (sta)D(i)

262 = P, + ,Ё,N, T,G,E,N, + ,VI,L + G,EL + M, + KON, + P, + ,A,D,.

5 11 29 61 80 95 101 122 128 131 148 149 161 193
FEBRUARY 10
193 188 182 164 132 113 98 92 71 65 62 45 44 32

"Deep" decryption offers the following option, in which all columns match:

D(yhan)E (o)S(deceased)+(died)I+TO(xic) (poisoning)E+(catastrophe)F(a)+(proliferation)E (metastasis)V RA(ka)+(possible )L(ed) (stage)I

193 = D,E,S, + ,I + ,TO,E + ,F, + ,E,V RA, + ,L,Y.

Code for the number of full YEARS OF LIFE: 146-SEVENTY + 66-SEVEN = 212.

18 24 37 66 71 77 95 127 146 164 170 183 212
SEVENTY SEVEN
212 194 188 175 146 141 135 117 85 66 48 42 29

212 = CANCER INTOXICATION(s) = FOURTH STAGE CANCER.

"Deep" decryption offers the following option, in which all columns match:

CE(red) (s)M(ert)b+D(yhani)E (o)C(tanovlen)+I(d)+T(ok)C(iche) (poisoning)E+(organization)M(a )+(death)b

212 = CE,M,b + D,E,S, + I, + T,S,E,M, + ,b.

Let's see what the "INFORMATION FIELD MEMORY" tells us:

111-MEMORY + 201-INFORMATION + 75-FIELD = 386.

386 = 262-(FULL NAME code) + 124-FOURTH stage CANCER.

386 = FEBRUARY 193-TENTH + FEBRUARY 193-TENTH; (even) FOURTH STAGE CANCER(s).

386 = 212-SEVENTY SEVEN + 174-INTOXICATION; (ra) TO THE FOURTH STAGE(s).

Early in the morning of March 27, 1845 Charlotte Constanza X-ray, wife of a successful textile merchant Friedrich Conrad Roentgen, was delivered of her son. The boy was named Wilhelm. When he was 3 years old, the family moved to Charlotte’s homeland, to the Dutch city of Apeldoorn.

In 1862, Wilhelm entered the Utrecht Technical School, but he failed to graduate for the most objective reasons. Shortly before graduation, he was expelled from the school because he refused to “turn in” a friend who had drawn a rather malicious caricature of one of the school teachers.

The official further path to Utrecht University was closed for him. However, the persistent Wilhelm managed to sign up as a free student and take several courses. And in 1865, having successfully passed the entrance exams, he entered the mechanical engineering department of the Federal Polytechnic University of Zurich. Three years later, the young man received his Doctor of Philosophy degree, but did not stop there, and, on the advice of his teacher, the famous German physicist August Adolf Kundt entered the physics department. A year later, Roentgen brilliantly defended his dissertation, after which Kundt took him into his laboratory as his first assistant.

August Kundt was a fairly active scientist. Soon he, along with his assistant, moved to Giessen, and in 1871, having received the department of physics at the local university, he moved to Würzburg, naturally.

A year later, on January 19, 1872, 27-year-old Wilhelm finally decided to start a family. With my chosen one, Anna Bertha Ludwig he had known each other for many years. This was the daughter of a Zurich restaurateur, from whom he, while still a student, took a boarding house.

Frau Roentgen, wife of Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

But the status of a married man had no effect on the mobility of the young specialist. In 1874, he, together with his teacher, moved to Strasbourg, at the university of which he received the position of lecturer, in 1875 he moved to the Academy of Agriculture in Hohenheim, where he received the position of “full professor of physics”, and in 1876 he returned to Strasbourg, where as many as three for years he lectured on theoretical physics.

The next point of his activity was again Giessen, who had once been their first joint object with Kundt. However, now he arrived here as an independent person, a professor at the physics department.

Meanwhile, in Wilhelm’s personal life, everything was going well, with the exception of one thing: his wife could not bring him a child. But the Roentgens really wanted children and in 1881 they adopted a 6-year-old niece Josephine Bertha Ludwig.

Professor Roentgen worked in Giessen for 6 years. The successful physicist was invited to the universities of Jena and Utrecht, but this time he bravely refused tempting offers. However, when at the end of August 1888, Prince Luitpold offered him not only to head the department of physics at the University of Würzburg, but also to become the director of the physics institute created under him, he could not stand it, and, together with his family, moved to Würzburg. Here he proved himself so remarkable that six years later he was almost unanimously elected rector of the university.

Wilhelm Roentgen at work. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The range of his scientific interests was extremely wide. Judging by the publications, Wilhelm Roentgen studied the thermal conductivity of crystals, the compressibility of water, the electrical properties of quartz, and the electromagnetic rotation of the plane of polarization of light in gases. Among his colleagues he was known as a “subtle classical experimental physicist.” All this time he seemed to be groping towards his main discovery. Which might not have happened if not for the scientist’s absent-mindedness, his attentiveness and his curiosity.

On November 8, 1895, in his laboratory, Dr. Roentgen experimented with electrical discharges in glass vacuum tubes. As usual, the experiments continued until late at night. When the hands on the clock came close to the top mark, Wilhelm remembered that his family was waiting for him, with great regret he covered the main working tool - the cathode tube - with a black cardboard cover, and turned off the light in the room.

Before leaving, he again looked with regret at the space of science he was leaving. The laboratory glowed with darkness, but this darkness was suspiciously inadequate. At first the scientist could not understand what bothered him about it, but then, looking closer, he noticed a luminous spot of incomprehensible nature on the barium bluescreen. Without a doubt it was the reflection of some light ray reflecting from a mirror or emanating from some hole. In principle, it was possible to ignore it, especially since this stain could not have anything to do with the experiments being carried out, it was late, and the scientist himself was hungry.

But Wilhelm decided to sort out the issue. Without turning on the light, he tried to determine the source of the stain, but for a long time he was unable to do so. The sheets of cardboard with which the scientist tried to “catch” the beam did not work: the spot continued to remain on the screen, without appearing on the sheets. Then Wilhelm began to manipulate the screen itself, moving it around the laboratory. Thus, he quickly established that the source was under the same black cardboard cover with which he had covered the cathode tube a quarter of an hour earlier. Picking it up, he almost cursed (only the deepest culture saved the scientist from this).

It turns out that when he was getting ready to leave, he forgot to turn off the power to the cathode tube. If he just left, the galvanic batteries would have to be replaced by tomorrow. But now for Roentgen this was no longer important. He felt that he was on the verge of an extremely important discovery. Without turning off the receiver, he again covered it with a completely opaque and fairly dense cover. The spot on the screen continued to glow as if there was no obstacle between it and the tube. There was no longer any question of returning home.

At least in the next few hours. All night the scientist, having prudently sent an attendant to his wife with a note, was busy putting various obstacles and obstacles in the path of the unknown and invisible ray and observing how it reacted to them. It turned out that the beam created by the working tube, which Roentgen quickly dubbed the X-ray, passes through a variety of materials almost unhindered.

Through many, but not through all

“If you pass the discharge of a large Ruhmkorff coil through a Hittorf, Crookes, Lenard or other similar device,” he later wrote in his first work on rays, “On a New Kind of Rays,” then the following phenomenon is observed. A piece of paper coated with barium platinum-sine-irhodium, when approaching a tube covered with a cover made of thin black cardboard that fits tightly enough to it, flashes with bright light with each discharge: it begins to fluoresce. Fluorescence is visible with sufficient darkness and does not depend on whether the paper is presented with the side coated or not coated with barium platinum oxide. Fluorescence is noticeable even at a distance of two meters from the tube.

It is easy to verify that the causes of fluorescence come precisely from the discharge tube, and not from some place in the wiring.

Regarding this phenomenon, the easiest way to assume that the black cardboard, opaque to the visible and ultraviolet rays of the sun, or to the rays of an electric arc, is permeated with some agent that causes energetic fluorescence. In this case, we must first investigate whether other bodies also have this property. It is easy to find that all bodies are permeable to this agent, but to varying degrees. I'll give you a few examples. Paper has great permeability: behind a bound book of approximately 1000 pages, I could still quite easily discern the glow of the fluorescent screen; printing ink does not present a noticeable obstacle. The same was the fluorescence behind the double deck of playing cards. One card placed between the tube and the screen produces an effect almost invisible to the eye.

X-ray of a hand with a ring. 1895 Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The staniol sheet is also almost invisible. And if you just fold several sheets together, their shadow is clearly visible on the screen.

Thick pieces of wood are still permeable. Spruce boards two to three centimeters thick absorb very little.

An aluminum plate about 15 mm thick greatly weakened, but did not completely destroy fluorescence.

Ebonite disks several centimeters thick still transmit rays.

Glass plates of the same thickness act differently depending on whether they contain lead (flint glass) or not. Are the former significantly less permeable than the latter?

If you hold your hand between the discharge tube and the screen, you can see the dark shadows of the bones in the faint outlines of the shadow of the hand itself.”

The research, of unprecedented intensity, lasted for a month and a half. They were carried out in conditions of the deepest secrecy. The only dedicated person was Roentgen's wife, Anna, his faithful assistant. The secrecy was not at all due to the fact that the scientist was afraid of theft of “intellectual property”. Roentgen was deeply opposed to the introduction of “rights of discovery.” All his life he considered science to be a universal matter and, as a matter of principle, did not file patents for his discoveries and inventions. Including, by the way, X-rays. It’s just that everything that he was now observing was so incredible that he was afraid that his colleagues would misunderstand him if he did not describe the new phenomenon in all possible details.

But he didn’t want to delay too much with the story about the discovery. The article, the beginning of which you read just above, was written already in mid-December, and on the 28th it was already published in the form of a separate brochure, copies of which the scientist sent to the leading physicists of the world. The first X-ray image of a human hand with a clearly visible ring on the ring finger was also printed in the brochure. This person, as it turned out later, was Anna Bertha.

The discovery of the German scientist conquered the world almost instantly. American scientists took the first medical X-ray of a closed fracture of the arm bone on January 20, 1896, less than a month after publication. The new discovery was as simple as it was incredible, especially since no one could yet unravel the nature of the rays. Tens and hundreds of laboratories in all parts of the world repeated and double-checked Roentgen’s experiments, and magazines and newspapers published thousands of articles, one cooler than the other. The ladies were frightened by the fact that a German doctor had invented a spotlight that showed everything that was under the dress. Men - because the new device can “see through walls.” Crowds of people flocked to public lectures during which the effects of rays were demonstrated. Joseph Thomson, conducting experiments with X-rays at Cambridge, came to the discovery of the electron.

Other great physicists also experimented with them, such as creator of the first physics school in Russia Nikolai Lebedev And radio inventor Alexander Popov.

Roentgen himself, having written two more articles on rays, had completely lost interest in them by 1897 and switched to other problems. He was so tired of the sudden fame that had fallen upon him that he now tried, on the contrary, in every way to show that, in essence, he had not done anything special. And to prove this, he stubbornly refused many of the offered awards and honorary titles. When the Prince Regent of Bavaria awarded him an order that gave him the right to nobility, the scientist accepted the order, so as not to offend a high-ranking person, but categorically refused the nobility, saying that he had not yet earned it. Therefore, of course, the Royal Swedish Academy, awarding Roentgen the first Nobel Prize in physics in 1901 “in recognition of his extremely important services to science, expressed in the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named in his honor,” took a certain risk.

After all, refusing to receive it would greatly damage her reputation. But then Wilhelm met the scientific community halfway, and accepted the prize with gratitude. However, he categorically refused to come to its presentation in person, citing being too busy, and gave the Nobel speech instead Member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences K.T. Odhner. “There is no doubt,” he said at the ceremony, “how great success physical science will achieve when this previously unknown form of energy is sufficiently explored.” The prize itself, along with all the documents due, was delivered to the scientist by mail. Not to Würzburg, but to Munich, where he had already headed the physics department for two years.

The University of Munich became his last place of work.

And it cannot be said that everything that the scientist did was definitely good. For example, for a long time he did not believe in the existence of the electron, and even forbade his subordinates and students, including the wonderful Soviet (then still Russian) physicist Abram Fedorovich Ioffe his mention. For a long time he refused to believe in the wave nature of the rays he discovered. However, in all cases, he eventually admitted his mistakes.

He was a complete unmercenary, ready to give his last jacket for an idea. When, during the First World War, the German government called on people to help the state in any way they could, he gave all his savings, including the Nobel Prize.

In 1919, after a long illness, his wife Anna died. Wilhelm continued to work at the University of Munich. Only after he turned 75 and was no longer legally able to remain in office did Roentgen agree to resign on April 1, 1920.

On February 10, 1923, after a long and serious illness, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen died in Munich from intestinal cancer. According to his will, he was buried in the Old Cemetery in Giessen, where his parents were already buried. He transferred the property to the city of Waldheim (Upper Bavaria), where he had a small hunting castle. Immediately, in his will, he ordered the executors to destroy all his scientific records. It is not known what the scientist was guided by when he entered this point into the “spiritual”, but it was fulfilled, so not many documents written by him have reached us.

The first monument to Wilhelm Roentgen was erected in St. Petersburg in front of the building of the Central Research Radiological Institute (today the Department of Radiology of the St. Petersburg State Medical University named after academician I.P. Pavlov) on January 29, 1920. Three years before his death.

X-ray machine - a set of equipment for producing and using x-ray radiation. Used in medicine (radiography, fluoroscopy, x-ray therapy), flaw detection. X-ray devices of a special design are used in X-ray spectral and X-ray structural analysis.

On November 8, 1895, Wilhelm Roentgen, a professor at the University of Würzburg (Germany), wished his wife good night and went down to his laboratory to do some more work.

When the wall clock struck eleven, the scientist turned off the lamp and suddenly saw a ghostly greenish glow spread across the table. It came from a glass jar containing crystals of barium platinum oxide. The ability of this substance to fluoresce under the influence of sunlight has long been known. But usually in the dark the glow stopped.

X-ray found the source of radiation. It turned out to be a Crookes tube that had not been switched off due to inattention and was located one and a half meters from the jar of salt. The tube was under a thick cardboard cover with no gaps.

The Crookes tube was invented about 40 years before Roentgen's observations. It was an electric vacuum tube, a source of, as they said then, “cathode rays.” These rays, hitting the glass wall of the lamp, were slowed down and produced a light spot on it, but could not escape beyond the lamp.

Noticing the glow, Roentgen stayed in the laboratory and began a methodical study of unknown radiation. He installed a screen coated with barium salt at different distances from the tube. It flickered even at a distance of two meters from the tube. Unknown rays, or, as X-ray called them Khluchi, penetrated through all the obstacles that were at the scientist’s hand: a book, a board, an ebonite plate, tin foil, and even a deck of cards that came from nowhere. All materials previously considered opaque became penetrable to rays of unknown origin.

X-ray began to stack the staniol sheets: two layers, three, ten, twenty, thirty. The screen gradually began to darken and finally became completely black. A thick volume of a thousand pages did not give such an effect. From this the professor concluded that the permeability of an object depends not so much on the thickness as on the material. When the scientist illuminated the box with a set of weights, he saw that the silhouettes of the metal weights were visible much better than the faint shadow of the wooden case. Then, for comparison, he ordered his double-barreled gun to be brought.

Then Roentgen saw an eerie sight: the moving shadows of a living skeleton. It turned out that the bones of the hand are less transparent to the X-rays than the soft tissues surrounding them.

The researcher studied the radiation he discovered for 50 days. His wife, unable to bear her husband’s silent voluntary seclusion, burst into tears, and in order to calm her down and at the same time demonstrate his invention to a loved one, Roentgen takes an X-ray of his wife’s hand. Dark silhouettes of bones were visible on it, and on one of the phalanges there was a black spot of a wedding ring.

Only seven weeks after the start of voluntary seclusion, on December 28, 1895, Roentgen sent his 30-page manuscript “On a new type of rays” to the Physicomedical Society of the University of Würzburg, adding the note: “Preliminary message.”

X-ray installation for experiments with X-rays. An example of a simple X-ray machine. Consists of a high voltage source (Ruhmkorff coil) and an X-ray tube (Crookes tube). The image is recorded on a photographic plate

The first work devoted to the great discovery will then turn out to be immortal: nothing in it will be either refuted or supplemented for many years. Information about Khluchi, which spread throughout the world in the first week of 1896, shocked the world. The new radiation was later named “X-ray” in honor of the discoverer.

Roentgen sent his manuscript to other addresses, in particular to his long-time colleague, Professor of the University of Vienna F. Exner. Having read the manuscript, he immediately appreciated it and immediately introduced it to his employees. Among them was assistant E. Lecher, the son of the editor of the Viennese newspaper Neue Freie Presse. He asked Exner for the text for the night, took it to his father and convinced him to urgently put important scientific news in the room.

It was published on the front page, for which they even had to stop the printing presses. On the morning of January 3, 1896, Vienna learned of the sensation. The article was republished by other publications. When a scientific journal came out with Roentgen's original article, the issue was snapped up in one day.

Immediately there were contenders for the priority of the new discovery. Roentgen was even accused of plagiarism. Among the candidates for the championship was Professor F. Lenard, who tried to name the rays by his own name.

It turned out that the first X-ray photograph was actually made in the USA back in 1890. The Americans had more rights to priority in the discovery than the same Lenard, who carried out his experiments with the Crookes tube later. But Professor Goodspeed in 1896 simply asked to remember that the first cathode ray photograph was taken in the laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania. After all, the true nature of these rays was established only by Roentgen.

World fame, which unexpectedly fell on a hitherto unknown provincial scientist, led him at first into confusion. He began to avoid not only reporters, but even scientists. The professor categorically rejected the advances of businessmen, refusing to participate in the exploitation of his discovery, from privileges, licenses, patents for his inventions, for the X-ray generators he improved. The lack of a monopoly on the production of X-ray technology has led to its rapid development throughout the world.

The scientist was accused of lack of patriotism. To the proposal of the Berlin Electrotechnical Joint Stock Company, which offered a lot of money and work in well-equipped laboratories, Roentgen replied: “My invention belongs to all of humanity.”

Operating table M. Seguy for fluoroscopy and photography

After the stunning success of his discovery, Roentgen again retired into voluntary confinement in his laboratory. He took a break only after completing his second scientific article on the newly discovered radiation on March 9, 1896. The third and final one - “Further observations of the properties of Chluches” - was published on March 10, 1897.

In 1904, the Englishman C. Barcla experimentally confirmed the theoretical guess of his compatriot J. Stokes that X-rays are of an electromagnetic nature. The X-ray region of the spectrum occupies the region between ultraviolet and gamma radiation. According to one classification, this range is from 10~5 to 10"12 centimeters, according to another - from 10~6 to 10"10 centimeters.

The invention of the German scientist caused unexpected reactions in the world. Thus, in 1896, a member of the American state of New Jersey, Reed, proposed a bill that prohibited the use of X-rays in theater binoculars, so that they could not penetrate not only through clothing, but also through the flesh into the soul. And the press in Europe and America warned about the dangers of “brain photography,” which allows one to read the most secret thoughts of others.

The information that, using X-rays, can be used to imprint text or a drawing on the convolutions of the cerebral cortex for memorization, found a particular response among readers. Khluchs were credited with the ability to restore youth to the elderly and life to the dying. And also turn lead into gold.

But, on the other hand, in the “X-ray” year of 1896 alone, more than a thousand scientific papers and almost 50 books on the use of X-rays in medicine were published. Back in February 1896, V. Tonkov presented a report to the St. Petersburg Anthropological Society on the use of X-rays to study the skeleton. Thus, the foundations of a new discipline were laid - x-ray anatomy. Now it has become the foundation of modern diagnostics. A little later, A. Yanovsky began to use it for the systematic examination of patients. In a combat situation, fluoroscopy was used by the Russian doctor V. Kravchenko, who equipped an X-ray room on the cruiser Aurora. In the Battle of Tsushima, he examined wounded sailors, finding and removing fragments from the body.

Radiology helped diagnose cancer and tuberculosis in the early stages. X-ray radiation in large doses is harmful to the human body. But, nevertheless, it is used to combat malignant tumors.

At the beginning of the 20th century. To produce an X-ray photograph, irradiation for 1.5–2 hours was required due to imperfect equipment and low sensitivity of the film. Then they began to use intensifying screens for filming, with film placed between them. This made it possible to reduce the exposure time by tens of times without increasing the film sensitivity. Thanks to this, radiography has surpassed fluoroscopy in terms of resolution.

Since film for X-ray photographs required a large amount of silver, radiography gradually began to be replaced by fluorography - photography from a fluorescent screen. A fluorogram has only one photosensitive layer and is 10–20 times smaller in area than a standard x-ray, which results in greater silver savings while reducing radiation exposure. The image is enlarged using projectors. A compact fluorographic camera installed on an electro-optical amplifier of a stationary device allows you to obtain multiple images at short intervals according to a given program. This way you can record fast processes. In particular, this method is used to control the movement of a special mass containing barium (clearly visible in X-rays) through the human gastrointestinal tract.

To save film, a special selenium plate is used that accumulates an electrostatic charge. Under the influence of X-ray radiation, it loses its charge, retaining it only in darkened areas. As a result, a latent image appears on the surface of the plate. It is developed by dusting with a finely dispersed coloring powder that accurately reproduces the distribution of light and shadows. One selenium plate can withstand 2–3 thousand procedures, saving up to 3 kg of silver. The image quality is not inferior to an x-ray.

Design of an X-ray diagnostic apparatus: Vc - supply voltage; Va - voltage for research; RN - voltage regulator; RV - time relay; GU - generator device including rectifiers; RT - x-ray tube; F - filter; D - diaphragm; O - object of study (patient); P - screening raster; RE - X-ray exposure meter chamber; P - cassette with radiographic film and intensifying screens; URI - X-ray image intensifier; TT - television transmitting tube; FC - photo camera; VKU - video control device; PMT - photomultiplier tube; SY - brightness stabilizer; BE - exposure meter signal processing unit; BN - X-ray tube filament control unit with a computing device; TN - filament transformer; S is the optical density of blackening of the photographic material; B is the brightness of the fluorescent screen; the dotted line indicates the working X-ray beam; RT - x-ray tube; F - filter; D - diaphragm; O - object of study (patient); P - screening raster; RE - X-ray exposure meter chamber; P - cassette with radiographic film and intensifying screens; URI - X-ray image intensifier; TT - television transmitting tube; FC - photo camera; VKU - video control device; PMT - photomultiplier tube; SY - brightness stabilizer; BE - exposure meter signal processing unit; BN - X-ray tube filament control unit with a computing device; TN - filament transformer; S is the optical density of blackening of the photographic material; B is the brightness of the fluorescent screen; the dotted line indicates the working X-ray beam

In addition to black and white, there is color radiography. First, a color radiograph was obtained by shooting the object three times with rays of unequal hardness. In this way, three negatives were obtained, which were colored blue, green and red, after which they were combined and a print was made on color film.

Later, to reduce the radiation dose, the tone separation method was used. A single exposure was needed here. Various density zones were identified in the image and a copy of the radiograph was made for each. Then they were combined on color film, obtaining a conditionally colored image.

A regular x-ray provides only a flat image. Often this does not allow us to determine, for example, the exact location of a foreign body in the body, and several radiographs obtained from different positions give only an approximate idea of this. Stereoradiography is used to transform a flat image into a three-dimensional one. For this purpose, two photographs are taken that make up a stereo pair: they depict the same picture, but captured as it is seen by the right and left eyes. When viewing both negatives in a special apparatus, they are combined into one, forming depth.

During stereofluoroscopy, the patient is scanned with two tubes that turn on alternately at a speed of 50 times per second each. Both series of pulses are sent to an electron-optical converter, from where they are alternately recorded by two television systems, synchronously with the operation of the tubes. Both pictures are combined into one using polarized glasses.

The depth, spatial structure, shape and size of pathological formations are also assessed by simpler means, for example, using tomography - layer-by-layer images. During tomography, the patient lies on the table. The X-ray room moves above it, and the film moves below it in the opposite direction. Only those elements that are located on the axis of rotation of the lever connecting the tube and the film are sharp. A series of images are taken showing thin layers several millimeters thick. Using them it is easy to determine where the foreign body or painful focus is located.

With the advent of electronic computers and computers, it became possible to programmatically control the entire X-ray diagnostic procedure - from shooting to receiving images.

The range of applications of X-rays is wide.

In the 20–30s of the last century, radiation genetics and selection appeared, making it possible to obtain persistent variants of microbes with the desired properties and plant varieties with increased productivity. By exposing organisms to penetrating radiation and then conducting selection, scientists carry out accelerated biological evolution.

In 1912 in Munich, M. von Laue put forward the idea of using X-rays to study the internal structure of a crystal. His idea caused controversy among his colleagues, and in order to resolve them, V. Friedrich placed a crystal in the path of the rays and, next to it, on the side, a photographic plate to record them when they deviated at a right angle, as in ordinary diffraction. There were no results until P. Knipping placed the plate not on the side, but behind the crystal. A symmetrical pattern of dark spots appeared on it.

This is how X-ray diffraction analysis appeared. At first, its use was limited to obtaining Lauegrams - pictures that reflected the structure of a single crystal. They made it possible to detect lattice defects, internal stresses, etc. In 1916, P. Debye and P. Scherrer adapted this method to study polycrystalline materials - powders, alloys. Such pictures were called Debyegrams. They are used to determine the structure and composition of samples, the size and orientation of inclusions.

In the 1930s, English scientists D. Bernal and D. Crowfoot-Hodgkin carried out X-ray diffraction analysis of proteins. The filming revealed their internal orderliness. Thanks to this analysis, the spatial model of DNA became possible, which was proposed in 1953 by D. Watson and F. Crick. To do this, they used diffraction patterns of DNA obtained by M. Wilkins.

X-rays are used to control the quality of various materials and products. They allow you to see internal defects - cracks, cavities, lack of penetration, inclusions. This method is called X-ray flaw detection.

X-rays allow art historians to peer beneath the top layer of paintings, sometimes helping to reveal images hidden for centuries. Thus, when studying Rembrandt’s painting “Danae”, the original version of the canvas was discovered, later redone by the author. Many paintings in different art galleries underwent similar research.

Introscope for luggage inspection

X-ray radiation is used in introscopes - devices that are now equipped at customs and checkpoints. They allow you to detect hidden explosives, weapons and drugs.