Editing Wilhelm Röntgen (section)

==Biographical history==
===Education===
Röntgen was born in [[Lennep]] on 27 March 1845<ref>{{cite web|title=Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen – Facts|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1901/rontgen/facts/|website=NobelPrize.org}}</ref> to Friedrich Conrad Röntgen, a German merchant and cloth manufacturer, and Charlotte Constanze Frowein.<ref name="Washington">{{cite web |title=Wilhelm Röntgen |url=https://rad.washington.edu/blog/featured-history-wilhelm-rontgen/ |website=University of Washington: Department of Radiology|date=7 January 2015 }}</ref> When he was aged three, his family moved to the [[Netherlands]], where his mother's family lived,<ref name="Washington" /> rendering him [[Statelessness|stateless]].<ref name="Lüttringhauser Anzeiger">{{cite web|last=Segovia-Buendía|first=Cristina|title=Röntgens Wurzeln im Bergischen|url=https://luettringhauser-anzeiger.de/roentgens-wurzeln-im-bergischen/|date=22 July 2020|language=de|website=Lüttringhauser Anzeiger}}</ref> He attended high school at Utrecht Technical School in [[Utrecht]], [[Netherlands]].<ref name="Washington" /> He followed courses at the Technical School for almost two years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rosenbusch |first=Gerd |title=Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen: The Birth of Radiology |page=10 }}</ref> In 1865, he was unfairly expelled from high school when one of his teachers intercepted a [[caricature]] of one of the teachers, which was drawn by someone else.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen – Biographical|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1901/rontgen/biographical/|website=NobelPrize.org}}</ref>

Without a high school diploma, Röntgen could only attend university in the Netherlands as a visitor. In 1865, he tried to attend [[Utrecht University]] without having the necessary credentials required for a regular student. Upon hearing that he could enter the [[Federal Polytechnic Institute]] in [[Zürich]] (today known as the [[ETH Zurich]]), he passed the entrance examination and began his studies there as a student of [[mechanical engineering]].<ref name="Washington" /> In 1869, he graduated with a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] from the [[University of Zurich]]; once there, he became a favourite student of Professor [[August Kundt]], whom he followed to the newly founded German [[University of Strasbourg|''Kaiser-Wilhelms-Universität'']] in [[Strasbourg]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Trevert|first=Edward|title=Something About X-Rays for Everybody|url=https://archive.org/details/somethingaboutx00trevgoog|publisher=Medical Physics Publishing Corporation|location=Madison, Wisconsin |page = [https://archive.org/details/somethingaboutx00trevgoog/page/n10 4]|year=1988|isbn=0-944838-05-7}}</ref> 
[[File:House-of birth of Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen.jpg|thumb|Birthplace of Röntgen in [[Remscheid]]-Lennep]]
[[File:Tegeltableau Wilhelm Röntgen Jackie Sleper Schalkwijkstraat Utrecht.JPG|thumb|Wall art by the house where Röntgen lived from 1863 until 1865 in the Schalkwijkstraat in [[Utrecht]]. Made by Jackie Sleper in 2005.]]

===Career===
[[File:München-2026-Deutsches_Museum-Röntgen.jpg|thumb|upright|Röntgen's marble bust at the [[Deutsches Museum]] in [[Munich]]]]

In 1874, Röntgen became a [[lecturer]] at the University of Strasbourg. In 1875, he became a [[professor]] at the [[University of Hohenheim|Academy of Agriculture]] in [[Hohenheim]], [[Württemberg]]. In 1876, he returned to Strasbourg as Professor of [[Physics]], and in 1879, he was appointed to the Chair of Physics at the [[University of Giessen]]. In 1888, he acquired German citizenship again after having been stateless for 40 years,<ref name="Lüttringhauser Anzeiger" /> and obtained the Physics Chair at the [[University of Würzburg]],<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Röntgen, Wilhelm Konrad|volume=23|page=694}}</ref> and in 1900 at the [[University of Munich]], by special request of the Bavarian government.

Röntgen had family in [[Iowa]] in the [[United States]] and planned to emigrate. He accepted an appointment at [[Columbia University]] in [[New York City]] and bought transatlantic tickets, before the outbreak of [[World War I]] changed his plans. He remained in Munich for the rest of his career.

===Discovery of X-rays ===
During 1895, at his laboratory in the Würzburg Physical Institute of the University of Würzburg, Röntgen was investigating the external effects of passing an [[electrical discharge]] through various types of vacuum tube equipment—apparatuses from [[Heinrich Hertz]], [[Johann Hittorf]], [[William Crookes]], [[Nikola Tesla]] and [[Philipp von Lenard]]<ref name=Nitske/><ref>{{Cite book|last = Agar|first = Jon|year = 2012|title = Science in the Twentieth Century and Beyond|publisher = Polity Press|location = Cambridge|page = 18|isbn = 978-0-7456-3469-2}}</ref> 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 produces the cathode rays. Röntgen knew that the cardboard covering prevented light from escaping, yet he observed that the invisible cathode rays caused a [[fluorescent]] effect on a small cardboard screen painted with [[platinocyanide|barium platinocyanide]] when it was placed close to the [[aluminium]] window.<ref name="EB1911"/> It occurred to Röntgen that the [[Crookes–Hittorf 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 was 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 Crookes–Hittorf 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 (optics)|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 for the next step of the experiment. It was at this point that Röntgen noticed a faint shimmering from a bench a few feet 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.

Based on the formation of regular shadows, Röntgen termed the phenomenon "rays".<ref name=PaisInward>{{Cite book |last=Pais |first=Abraham |title=Inward bound: of matter and forces in the physical world |date=2002 |publisher=Clarendon Press [u.a.] |isbn=978-0-19-851997-3 |edition=Reprint |location=Oxford}}</ref>{{rp|40}} As 8 November was a Friday, he took advantage of the weekend to repeat his experiments and made 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 ("X") for something unknown. The new rays came to bear his name in many languages as "Röntgen rays" (and the associated [[Radiography|X-ray radiograms]] as "Röntgenograms").

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. 

About six weeks after his discovery, he took a picture—a [[radiograph]]—using X-rays of his wife Anna Bertha's hand.<ref name="Stoddart"/> When she saw her skeleton she exclaimed "I have seen my death!"<ref name="Landwehr">{{cite book|last=Landwehr |first=Gottfried |title=Röntgen centennial: X-rays in Natural and Life Sciences|editor=Hasse, A|publisher=World Scientific|location=Singapore|year=1997|pages=7–8|isbn=981-02-3085-0}}</ref> He later took a better picture of his friend [[Albert von Kölliker]]'s hand at a public lecture.

Röntgen's original paper, "On A New Kind of Rays" (''Ueber<!--[sic; see 'Talk:Gottlob Frege#Ueber']--> eine neue Art von Strahlen''), was published 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 also received the [[Rumford Medal]] of the British [[Royal Society]] in 1896, jointly with [[Philipp Lenard]], who had already shown that a portion of the cathode rays could pass through a thin film of a metal such as aluminium.<ref name="EB1911"/> Röntgen published a total of three papers on X-rays between 1895 and 1897.<ref>Wilhelm Röntgen, "Ueber<!--[sic; see 'Talk:Gottlob Frege#Ueber']--> eine neue Art von Strahlen. Vorläufige Mitteilung", in: ''Aus den Sitzungsberichten der Würzburger Physik.-medic. Gesellschaft Würzburg'', pp. 137–147, 1895; Wilhelm Röntgen, "Eine neue Art von Strahlen. 2. Mitteilung", in: ''Aus den Sitzungsberichten der Würzburger Physik.-medic. Gesellschaft Würzburg'', pp. 11–17, 1896; Wilhelm Röntgen, "Weitere Beobachtungen über die Eigenschaften der X-Strahlen", in: ''Mathematische und Naturwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen aus den Sitzungsberichten der Königlich Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin'', pp. 392–406, 1897.</ref> Today, Röntgen is considered the father of diagnostic [[radiology]], the medical speciality which uses imaging to diagnose disease.

===Personal life===
[[File:Roentgen family-grave-Giessen-Alter Friedhof-2011-07.jpg|thumb|Grave of Wilhelm Röntgen (and relatives) at Alter Friedhof (old cemetery) in [[Gießen]]]]
Röntgen was married to Anna Bertha Ludwig<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jain |first1=C |title=Spouse - source from Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen Biographical |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1901/rontgen/biographical/ |website=Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen Biographical}}</ref> for 47 years until her death in 1919 at the age of 80. In 1866, they met in Zürich at Anna's father's café, Zum Grünen Glas. They became engaged in 1869 and wed in [[Apeldoorn]], [[Netherlands]] on 7 July 1872; the delay was due to Anna being six years Wilhelm's senior and his father not approving of her age or humble background. Their marriage began with financial difficulties as family support from Röntgen had ceased. 
They raised one child, Josephine Bertha Ludwig, whom they adopted as a six-year-old after her father, Anna's only brother, died in 1887.<ref>Glasser (1933: 63)</ref> 
[[File:First medical X-ray by Wilhelm Röntgen of his wife Anna Bertha Ludwig's hand - 18951222.jpg|thumb|[[Wikipedia:Valued picture candidates/File:Anna Berthe Roentgen.gif|First]] X-ray by Röntgen of his wife Anna Bertha Ludwig's hand]]
[[File:X-ray_by_Wilhelm_R%C3%B6ntgen_of_Albert_von_K%C3%B6lliker%27s_hand_-_18960123-02.jpg|thumb|150px|X-ray of [[Albert von Kölliker]]'s hand]]
For ethical reasons, Röntgen did not seek patents for his discoveries, holding the view that they should be publicly available without charge. After receiving his Nobel prize money, Röntgen donated the 50,000 Swedish kronor to research at the [[University of Würzburg]]. Although he accepted the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine, he rejected an offer of lower nobility, or Niederer Adelstitel, denying the preposition von (meaning "of") as a [[nobiliary particle]] (i.e., von Röntgen).<ref name="Michigan">{{cite web |title=Radiation Safety – Historical Figures – Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen |url=https://ehs.msu.edu/lab-clinic/rad/hist-figures/rontgen.html |website=Michigan State University |access-date=18 September 2019}}</ref> With the inflation following World War I, Röntgen fell into bankruptcy, spending his final years at his country home at [[Weilheim in Oberbayern|Weilheim]], near Munich.<ref name=Nitske>Nitske, Robert W., ''The Life of W. C. Röntgen, Discoverer of the X-Ray'', University of Arizona Press, 1971.</ref> Röntgen died on 10 February 1923 from [[carcinoma]] of the intestine, also known as [[colorectal cancer]].<ref name=GlasserEarly>{{cite book|last=Glasser|first=Otto |title=Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen and the Early History of the Roentgen Rays<!-- Spelling discrepancy as in original -->|publisher=John Bale, Sons and Danielsson, Ltd|location=London|year=1933|page=305|oclc=220696336}}</ref> In keeping with his will, his personal and scientific correspondence, with few exceptions, were destroyed upon his death.<ref name=GlasserEarly/>{{rp|113}}<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://upscgk.com/Online-gk/5852/wilhelm-conrad-r%C3%B6ntgen-was-born-on-march-27-1845 | title=Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was born on March 27, 1845}}</ref> He was a member of the [[Dutch Reformed Church]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen: The Birth of Radiology|first=Annemarie de |last=Knecht-van Eekelen|year= 2019| isbn=9783319976617|page =4|publisher=Springer|quote=Wilhelm Conrad and his father were members of the Dutch Reformed Church, the mainstream Protestant.}}</ref>