The X-rays They were discovered in 1895 and from then on they became a very revolutionary application in many branches of science, from astronomy to X-rays, which we have not done so many times. Today we commemorate the 120th anniversary of X-Rays by meeting its inventor and the research that led to such an important scientific breakthrough.
Who invented X-rays?
The inventor or, rather, the person who discovered X-rays was Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen, a German physicist who was focused on the field of electromagnetics. As soon as he presented his discovery, Röntgen’s theory received great critical and public attention, and was translated into French, English or Russian.
Although it is not as well known a name today as that of other famous writers, the name of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen is written in gold letters in the field of medicine, where it has had and has numerous applications. The importance of his discovery was such in his day, that it was the first winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.
But how did he really discover them? Was that what he was looking for or, like so many other inventions, did it come about almost by chance?
How were X-rays discovered?
The November 8, 1895 the physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rontgenwas conducting experiments to analyze the violet fluorescence of Ray cathodes, for which he used a device called crookes tube. But an unexpected effect caught his attention: a subtle yellow-green glow on a cardboard with a solution of platinum crystals-barium cyanide. This prompted him to run some small tests to see what was going on.
Röntgen he began by moving the solution further and further away, checking that the glow was maintained. She inferred that it was a radiation very penetrating but invisible to the human eye. The experiments continued for several weeks to try to understand the properties of these Ray, hitherto never studied, which led to a new discovery. When trying to make a Photography he verified that the plates were veiled.
This new event led him to think Röntgen that the Ray influenced the photographic emulsion, which triggered new tests. He soon found that rays passed through matter and impressed their form on the surface. Photography. At the time she decided to experiment with the human body. His wife exposed her hand to the rays and placed it on the plate. Thus they obtained the first x-ray of the human body (including his ring!), an advance that would later revolutionize medicine.
Röntgen decided to call his discovery “unknown rays” either “X-rays”. His studies had a high impact on the scientific community, obtaining in 1901 the Nobel Prize Physics.
X-ray applications
Most of us have thought,How cool would it be to have X-rays to be able to see Pepito or the neighbor on the third floor without clothes«. Do not deny it. At the moment there is no evidence that such a device exists, and if there were, we do not believe that it would last long on the market. But X-rays have other applications of much more relevance.
As we know, X-rays have given rise to specialties such as radiologywhich allows you to see inside the human body to analyze the state of bones or organs.
This type of “technology” is also often used for reasons of security. For example, special security forces have X-ray equipment to see through certain materials, while in other places, such as airportsare used to check if passengers have something hidden.
However, X-rays can also have other uses that are not as well known among the average population. For example, they are used to study fossils and remains of amber from millions of years ago without damaging it.
Technological advances allow various x-rays to be made of objects consisting of a kind of cross-sectional plates that, all together, would form the object itself in 3D. This technology, assisted by computers, is used, among other things, for the ham salting process.
Finally, another of its uses has to do with art and design; X-rays are also used to find out if a painting is authentic or to determine the gemstone purity.
You can find much more information about X-rays in this History Channel documentary:
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