Editing N-ray (section)

== Discovery ==
In 1903, Blondlot announced his discovery while working at the University of Nancy and attempting to [[polarization (waves)|polarize]] X-rays. He had perceived changes in the brightness of an [[electric spark]] in a [[spark gap]] placed in an X-ray beam which he photographed, and he later attributed to the novel form of [[radiation]], naming this the ''N-rays'' for the University of Nancy.<ref name=Blondlot>
{{Cite book
 |author=Prosper-René Blondlot
 |year=1905
 |title="N" Rays
 |url=https://archive.org/details/nrayscollectiono00blonrich
 |publisher=[[Longmans, Green & Co.]]
 |location=[[London]]
 |others=translated by Garcin, J.
 |author-link=Prosper-René Blondlot
}}</ref> Blondlot, [[Augustin Charpentier]], [[Arsène d'Arsonval]], and approximately 120 other scientists in 300 published articles<ref name=Lagemann /> claimed to be able to detect N-rays emanating from most substances, including the human body, with the peculiar exceptions that they were not emitted by [[green wood]] and by some treated metals.<ref name=skepdic>
{{cite web
 |last=Carroll |first=R.T.
 |title=The Skeptic's Dictionary
 |url=http://skepdic.com/blondlot.html
}}</ref> Most researchers of the subject at the time used the perceived light of a dim phosphorescent surface as "detectors", although work in the period clearly showed the change in brightness to be a physiological phenomenon rather than some actual change in the level of illumination.<ref>
{{cite journal
 |last=Guilleminot |first=H.
 |title="N" rays do not influence the resistivity of selenium nor modify the influence of light upon that resistivity
 |journal=[[Archives d'électricité médicale]]
 |pages=243–244
}}</ref> Physicists [[Gustave le Bon]] and [[P. Audollet]] and [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualist]]<!--(Phrenologist?)--> [[Carl Huter]] even claimed the discovery as their own,<ref name = klotz /> leading to a commission of the [[French Academy of Sciences|Académie des sciences]] to decide priority.<ref>
{{cite journal
 |author=M. d’Arsonval
 |title = Remarques à propos des Communications de M. A. Charpentier et des revendications de priorité auxquelles elles ont donné lieu
 |date=11 April 1904
 |journal=Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences
 |pages=884–885
 |language = fr
}}</ref>