Editing X-ray (section)

===Discovery by Röntgen===
[[File:WilhelmRöntgen.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Wilhelm Röntgen]]]]

On [[1895#October–December|8 November 1895]], German physics professor [[Wilhelm Röntgen]] stumbled on X-rays while experimenting with Lenard tubes and [[Crookes tube]]s and began studying them. He wrote an initial report "On a new kind of ray: A preliminary communication" and on 28 December 1895, submitted it to [[Würzburg]]'s Physical-Medical Society journal.<ref>{{Cite journal | vauthors = Stanton A |title= Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen On a New Kind of Rays: translation of a paper read before the Würzburg Physical and Medical Society, 1895 |journal= [[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume= 53 |issue= 1369 |pages= 274–6 |date= 23 January 1896 |doi= 10.1038/053274b0 |bibcode= 1896Natur..53R.274.|doi-access= free }} see also pp. 268 and 276 of the same issue.</ref> This was the first paper written on X-rays. Röntgen referred to the radiation as "X", to indicate that it was an unknown type of radiation. Some early texts refer to them as Chi-rays, having interpreted "X" as the uppercase [[Chi (letter)|Greek letter Chi]], ''Χ''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Garcia |first1=J. |last2=Buchwald |first2=N. A. |last3=Feder |first3=B. H. |last4=Koelling |first4=R. A. |last5=Tedrow |first5=L. |date=1964 |title=Sensitivity of the head to X-ray |journal=Science |volume=144 |issue=3625 |pages=1470–1472 |doi=10.1126/science.144.3625.1470 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=14171545 |bibcode=1964Sci...144.1470G |quote=Rats have been trained to respond to signals consisting of very low doses of chi-ray directed to the head.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Baganha |first1=M. F. |last2=Marques |first2=M. A. |last3=Botelho |first3=M. F. |last4=Teixeira |first4=M. L. |last5=Carvalheira |first5=V. |last6=Calisto |first6=J. |last7=Silva |first7=A. |last8=Fernandes |first8=A. |last9=Torres |first9=M. |last10=Brito |first10=J. |date=1993 |title=Tomodensitometry and radioisotopic methods in the study of unilateral lung hyperlucencies of vascular origin |journal=Acta Médica Portuguesa |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=19–24 |pmid=8475784 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Takahashi |first1=K. |last2=Case |first2=B. W. |last3=Dufresne |first3=A. |last4=Fraser |first4=R. |last5=Higashi |first5=T. |last6=Siemiatycki |first6=J. |date=1994 |title=Relation between lung asbestos fibre burden and exposure indices based on job history |journal=Occupational and Environmental Medicine |volume=51 |issue=7 |pages=461–469 |doi=10.1136/oem.51.7.461 |pmc=1128015 |pmid=8044245 }}</ref>

There are conflicting accounts of his discovery because Röntgen had his [[Nachlass|lab notes]] burned after his death, but this is a likely reconstruction by his biographers:<ref>{{Cite web | vauthors = Peters P |date=1995 |title=W. C. Roentgen and the discovery of x-rays |website=Textbook of Radiology |publisher=Medcyclopedia.com, GE Healthcare |url=http://www.medcyclopaedia.com/library/radiology/chapter01.aspx |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080511205052/http://www.medcyclopaedia.com/library/radiology/chapter01.aspx |archive-date=11 May 2008 |access-date=5 May 2008 }}</ref><ref name="Glasser">{{Cite book | vauthors = Glasser O |title= Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen and the early history of the roentgen rays |publisher= Norman Publishing |date= 1993 |pages= 10–15 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5GJs4tyb7wEC&pg=PA10 |isbn= 978-0930405229}}</ref> Röntgen was investigating cathode rays from a Crookes tube which he had wrapped in black cardboard so that the visible light from the tube would not interfere, using a [[fluorescent]] screen painted with barium [[platinocyanide]]. He noticed a faint green glow from the screen, about {{convert|1|m|ft|sp=us}} away. Röntgen realized some invisible rays coming from the tube were passing through the cardboard to make the screen glow. He found they could also pass through books and papers on his desk. Röntgen threw himself into investigating these unknown rays systematically. Two months after his initial discovery, he published his paper.<ref>{{cite news | vauthors = Arthur C |title=Google doodle celebrates 115 years of X-rays |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/nov/08/google-doodle-x-ray-115-year-anniversary |newspaper=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian US |access-date=5 February 2019|date=8 November 2010 }}</ref>

[[File:First medical X-ray by Wilhelm Röntgen of his wife Anna Bertha Ludwig's hand - 18951222.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|left|''Hand mit Ringen'' (Hand with Rings): print of Wilhelm Röntgen's first "medical" X-ray, of his wife's hand, taken on 22 December 1895 and presented to [[Ludwig Zehnder]] of the Physik Institut, [[University of Freiburg]], on 1 January 1896<ref>{{Cite book | vauthors = Kevles BH |title= Naked to the Bone Medical Imaging in the Twentieth Century |publisher= [[Rutgers University Press]] |date= 1996 |location= Camden, New Jersey |pages= [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780813523583/page/19 19–22] |isbn= 978-0-8135-2358-3 |url= https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780813523583/page/19 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | vauthors = Sample S |title= X-Rays |website= The Electromagnetic Spectrum |publisher= [[NASA]] |date= 27 March 2007 |url= http://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/xrays.html |access-date= 3 December 2007}}</ref>]]

Röntgen discovered their medical use when he made a picture of his wife's hand on a photographic plate formed due to X-rays. The photograph of his wife's hand was the first photograph of a human body part using X-rays. When she saw the picture, she said "I have seen my death."<ref name="pbs">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/i-have-seen-my-death-how-the-world-discovered-the-x-ray|title='I Have Seen My Death': How the World Discovered the X-Ray| vauthors = Markel H |date=20 December 2012|website=PBS NewsHour|publisher=PBS|access-date=23 March 2019}}</ref>

The discovery of X-rays generated significant interest. Röntgen's biographer [[Otto Glasser]] estimated that, in [[1896 in science|1896]] alone, as many as 49 essays and 1044 articles about the new rays were published.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Glasser |first1=Otto |title=Dr. W.C. Röntgen |date=1958 |publisher=Thomas |oclc=598678738 }}{{pn|date=April 2025}}</ref> This was probably a conservative estimate, if one considers that nearly every paper around the world extensively reported about the new discovery, with a magazine such as ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' dedicating as many as 23 articles to it in that year alone.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Natale |first1=Simone |title=THE INVISIBLE MADE VISIBLE: X-rays as attraction and visual medium at the end of the nineteenth century |journal=Media History |date=November 2011 |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=345–358 |doi=10.1080/13688804.2011.602856 |hdl=2134/19408 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Sensationalist reactions to the new discovery included publications linking the new kind of rays to occult and paranormal theories, such as telepathy.<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Natale S |date=4 August 2011 |title=A Cosmology of Invisible Fluids: Wireless, X-Rays, and Psychical Research Around 1900 |journal=Canadian Journal of Communication |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=263–276 |doi=10.22230/cjc.2011v36n2a2368 |doi-access=free |hdl=2318/1770480 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Grove AW | title = Röntgen's ghosts: photography, X-rays, and the Victorian imagination | journal = Literature and Medicine | volume = 16 | issue = 2 | pages = 141–173 | date = 1997 | pmid = 9368224 | doi = 10.1353/lm.1997.0016 }}</ref>

The name X-rays stuck, although (over Röntgen's great objections) many of his colleagues suggested calling them ''Röntgen rays''. They are still referred to as such in many languages, including [[German language|German]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[Portuguese Language|Portuguese]], [[Estonian language|Estonian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Slovenian language|Slovenian]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]],  [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]], [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]], [[Albanian language|Albanian]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]].{{original research inline|date=October 2024}}

Röntgen received the first [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] for his discovery.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/articles/karlsson/ |title=The Nobel Prizes in Physics 1901–2000 | vauthors = Karlsson EB |date=9 February 2000 |publisher=The Nobel Foundation |access-date=24 November 2011 |location=Stockholm }}</ref>