A Chance Discovery

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X-rays, which are invaluable for identifying broken bones, were actually discovered by accident.

In 1895, the German physicist, Wilhelm Roentgen, was experimenting with an electric current flowing through a gas filled tube, called a cathode ray tube.  He noticed a strange glow coming from a little fluorescent screen, which had been left lying on a bench more than a metre away.  Putting his hand between the tube and the screen, he was surprised to see a clear image of the bones of his hand.  They appeared as a dark shadow within the shadowy image of the hand itself.

Being a keen amateur photographer, Roentgen decided to put a photographic plate where the screen had been.  This time using his wife's left hand as an object, he took the first X-ray picture.  It showed her bones obscured only by a wedding band.  Roentgen called the mysterious rays ‘X-rays'.

His discovery had a powerful impact on science.  However, it took several years to identify X-rays as the same kind of radiation as light and radio waves, but with a shorter wave length. Soon X-rays proved invaluable in medical diagnosis.  Roentgen received worldwide acclaim for his chance discovery, including the first Nobel Prize ever awarded in physics in 1901.

So next time you wonder if you've broken a bone, be grateful for the accidental observation that made it possible to get a clear picture of it.