Editing N-ray (section)

==Response==
The "discovery" excited international interest and many physicists worked to replicate the effects. However, the notable physicists [[Lord Kelvin]], [[William Crookes]], [[Otto Lummer]], and [[Heinrich Rubens]] failed to do so. Following his own failure, self-described as "wasting a whole morning",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert W. Wood: Photographing the Invisible, Debunking the Incredible |url=http://boole.stanford.edu/Wood/ |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=boole.stanford.edu}}</ref> the American physicist [[Robert W. Wood]], who had a reputation as a popular "debunker" of nonsense during the period, was prevailed upon by the [[United Kingdom|British]] journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' to travel to Blondlot's laboratory in France to investigate further. Wood suggested that Rubens should go since he had been the most embarrassed when [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany]] asked him to repeat the French experiments and, after two weeks, Rubens had to report his failure to do so. Rubens, however, felt it would look better if Wood went since Blondlot had been most polite in answering his many questions.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

In the darkened room during Blondlot's demonstration, Wood surreptitiously removed an essential [[prism (optics)|prism]] from the experimental apparatus, yet the experimenters still said that they observed N-rays. Wood also stealthily swapped a large [[File (tool)|file]] that was supposed to be giving off N-rays with an inert piece of wood, yet the N-rays were still "observed". His report on these investigations were published in ''Nature'',<ref>
{{Cite journal |last=Wood |first=R.W. |date=29 September 1904 |title=The N-Rays |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=70 |issue=1822 |pages=530–531 |doi=10.1038/070530a0 |quote=After spending three hours or more in witnessing various experiments, I am not only unable to report a single observation which appeared to indicate the existence of the rays, but left with a very firm conviction that the few experimenters who have obtained positive results, have been in some way deluded. A somewhat detailed report of the experiments which were shown to me, together with my own observations, may be of interest to the many physicists who have spent days and weeks in fruitless efforts to repeat the remarkable experiments which have been described in the scientific journals of the past year. |bibcode = 1904Natur..70..530W |s2cid=4063030 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1429443}}</ref>
and they suggested that the N-rays were a purely subjective phenomenon, with the scientists involved having recorded data that matched their expectations. There is reason to believe that Blondlot in particular was misled by his laboratory assistant, who confirmed all observations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weart |first1=Spencer |title=A Little More Light on N-Rays |journal=American Journal of Physics |date=1978 |volume=46 |issue=3 |page=306 |bibcode = 1978AmJPh..46..306W |doi = 10.1119/1.11342}}</ref> By 1905, no one outside of Nancy believed in N-rays, but Blondlot himself is reported to have still been convinced of their existence in 1926.<ref name=Lagemann /> [[Martin Gardner]], making reference to Wood's biographer [[William Seabrook]]'s account of the affair, attributed a subsequent decline in mental health and eventual death of Blondlot to the resulting scandal,<ref>{{cite book |author=Martin Gardner |year=1957 |title=Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science |location=New York |publisher=[[Dover Publications]] |page=345 |author-link=Martin Gardner |title-link=Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science}}</ref> but there is evidence that this is at least some exaggeration of the facts.<ref name=Lagemann />

The term "N-ray" was added to dictionaries upon its announcement and was described as a real phenomenon until at least the 1940s. For instance, the 1946 Webster's Dictionary defined it as "An emanation or radiation from certain hot bodies which increases the luminosity without increasing the temperature: as yet, not fully determined."<ref name="Webster's Dictionary">{{cite book |last1=Devlin |first1=Joseph |title=Webster's New School and Office Dictionary |date=1946 |publisher=The New World Publishing Company |page=496 |url=http://www.informationism.org/index.php?title=File:Nrays.jpeg |access-date=13 October 2014}}</ref>