X-Rays — Seeing Through the Human Body
Aug 10, 2026 · 21 min · 8 segments
How an accidental discovery became one of medicine's most important technologies.
- Speakers
Jagdeep SinghHost
Aug 10, 2026 · 21 min · 8 segments
How an accidental discovery became one of medicine's most important technologies.
Jagdeep SinghHost
Roentgen was disciplined, private and methodical, the kind of scientist who trusted careful and repeated observations.
he was studying something physicists across europe were excited about a vacuum tube picture two metal plates sealed inside a glass tube with almost all the air pumped out apply a strong voltage across them and something happens inside that tube.
One evening in November 1895, He wrapped the tube in thick black cardboard to block any ordinary lights from escaping and darkened the room completely.
Something invisible was leaving the tube, crossing the room and making the screen glow.
Zentgen began testing it, placing paper, wood, books, and pieces of metal between the two and a photographic plate.
When the photographic plate was developed, it showed the bones inside her hand.
For the first time, someone had photographed the inside of a living human body without making an incision.
Because Roentgen did not know what these mysterious rays were, he called them X-rays.
Roentgen was disciplined, private and methodical, the kind of scientist who trusted careful and repeated observations.
he was studying something physicists across europe were excited about a vacuum tube picture two metal plates sealed inside a glass tube with almost all the air pumped out apply a strong voltage across them and something happens inside that tube.
One evening in November 1895, He wrapped the tube in thick black cardboard to block any ordinary lights from escaping and darkened the room completely.
Something invisible was leaving the tube, crossing the room and making the screen glow.
Zentgen began testing it, placing paper, wood, books, and pieces of metal between the two and a photographic plate.
When the photographic plate was developed, it showed the bones inside her hand.
For the first time, someone had photographed the inside of a living human body without making an incision.
Because Roentgen did not know what these mysterious rays were, he called them X-rays.
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