X-ray scientist. X-ray Wilhelm: biography, discoveries, interesting facts from life

The history of radiographic research begins in 1885. It was then that Wilhelm Roentgen was first able to register the darkening of photographic plates, which occurred under the influence of radiation of a special spectrum. At the same time, the scientist discovered that after irradiation of any part of the human body, an image of the skeleton remains on the photographic plate. This discovery served as the basis for medical imaging. Before that, it was not possible to study internal organs and tissues during human life.

The discovery of X-rays

Wilhelm Roentgen made the discovery of his whole life already in adulthood. Having a habit of staying up late in his laboratory, which worked at the physics department of the University of Würzburg, the scientist noticed that when power was applied to the cathode tube, which was closed on all sides with thick black paper, crystals of barium platinum cyanide began to glow.

Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen

This effect interested Roentgen and he continued his studies, which resulted in the discovery of X-radiation. The physicist established that the source of these special rays is the place of collision of the cathode radiation with an obstacle inside the tube. Continuing his experiments, Roentgen invented a special design equipped with a flat anode. This provided an intensification of the X-ray flux. Working with this apparatus, the scientist described the properties of the rays, which were later called "X-ray"

Physical properties of X-radiation

Thanks to Roentgen's research, special properties x-radiation. So it became clear that it is capable of penetrating various opaque materials without being reflected or refracted at the same time. In addition, radiation cannot be polarized and cannot be diffracted. Special attention should be paid to the fact that X-rays are harmful to the human body. The scientist did not know this, therefore, most likely, his health broke down due to prolonged exposure to the radiation he had discovered. Modern equipment allows you to effectively protect the examinee from the harmful effects of X-rays, but, nevertheless, X-ray examination is not recommended more often than once a year.

Radiography in medicine

For the use of open X-ray radiation, special equipment was invented, the most diverse modifications of which have found application in almost all areas of modern medicine. It should be noted that if the soft tissues of the human body transmit rays, then the bones and solid materials, which for some reason are in the body, they are delayed. And to determine the state of the skeleton and the presence of foreign bodies in the body, a separate direction was developed - fluoroscopy.

Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery became widespread by 1919. Thanks to his research, new medical industries began to appear - roentgenology, X-ray diagnostics, X-ray structural analysis, etc. With the help of these methods, it was possible to save the health and lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Therefore, without a doubt, the results of Roentgen's work are one of the greatest achievements in the history of mankind.

"X-rays belong to everyone, to all mankind ... Works
associated with X-rays, they did not begin with me and will not end with me.
What I have done is only a link in a great chain ... "

(German Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen) - the first ever laureate Nobel Prize (1901), the largest German experimental physicist, member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. His name is forever associated with his great discovery - X-rays, without which it is impossible to imagine modern science and civization.

At the very beginning of 1896, all the universities and academies of the world were excited by the sensational news: a certain Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen, a little-known German professor, discovered some new rays that had remarkable properties.

The human eye did not notice them, but they acted on a photographic plate, and with their help it was possible to take pictures even in complete darkness. In addition, one could learn about the presence of these rays in the following way: if a paper or glass screen covered with a special chemical composition was placed in their path, then the screen began to glow brightly - to phosphoresce.

And the most amazing thing was that new rays more or less freely passed through any objects, like light through glass... They penetrated through tightly closed doors, through blank partitions, through clothing and the human body. If they were blocked by a hand, then dark outlines of bones appeared on the luminous screen - the hand of a skeleton wiggling its fingers!

Respectable people in frock coats fastened to all buttons, in starched bibs could see their ribs, spinal column, the shadow of their entire skeleton on the screen, and at the same time a watch in a vest pocket or coins in a wallet hidden in trousers.

There were immediately people who have guessed to apply new beams for a practical purpose... In America, for example, already on the fourth day after it became known about the discovery of Roentgen, some doctor used these rays to establish whether a bullet was stuck in the body of a wounded, his patient.

Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen was born on March 27, 1845 in Lennep, a small town near Remscheid in Prussia, and was the only child of the successful textile merchant Friedrich Konrad Roentgen and Charlotte Constance.

In 1848 the family moved to the Dutch city of Apeldoorn, the homeland of Charlotte's parents. In 1862, Roentgen entered the Utrecht Technical School, but was expelled for refusing to name the friend who drew the caricature of the teacher.

Without graduating from college, Wilhelm tried to pass exams for a matriculation certificate at another educational institution, but to no avail. In 1865 he went to Zurich to study mechanical engineering at the Higher Technical School, where a matriculation certificate was not required.

For good marks, which he brought from the Utrecht Technical School, he was exempted from the entrance exam. For three years Roentgen studied mechanical engineering, with a particular interest in applied mathematics and technical physics. After completing the scientific and engineering course, on the advice of the physicist A. Kundt, he turned to experimental physics.

In 1869 Roentgen received his Ph.D. for an article on the theory of gases. In 1874 he followed Kundt to the University of Strasbourg. In 1875 he passed the exams for the right to teach physics and mathematics and became a professor at the Higher Agricultural School in Goenheim.

A year later, Konrad Roentgen moved to Strasbourg, and in 1879, on the recommendation of the eminent scientist Hermann Helmholtz, received a professor position at the University of Giessen. Here he was mainly engaged in the issues of electromagnetism and optics and made a very important discovery: based on the Faraday-Maxwell electrodynamics, he discovered the magnetic field of a moving charge. Among his other works of this period are research on the physics of quartz crystals.

In 1888, Konrad Roentgen began work at the University of Würzburg as professor of physics and director of the Physics Institute, where he continued his research on a wide range of problems, including the compressibility of water and electrical properties quartz. In 1894 he was elected rector of the university, and at the same time began to study cathode rays.

On the evening of November 8, 1895, Roentgen, as usual, worked in his laboratory, studying cathode rays. At about midnight, feeling tired, he started to leave. Glancing around the laboratory, he turned off the light and was about to close the door, when suddenly noticed in the dark some kind of glowing spot... It turns out that a screen made of barium synergistic was shining. Why is it glowing? The sun had gone down long ago, the electric light could not cause a glow, the cathode tube was turned off, and, in addition, it was covered with a black cardboard case. Roentgen once again looked at the cathode tube and reproached himself for forgetting to turn it off. Groping for the switch, the scientist turned off the receiver. The glow of the screen also disappeared; turned on the tube, the glow appeared again and again. So the glow is caused by the cathode tube! But how? After all, the cathode rays are delayed by the cover, and the meter-long air gap between the tube and the screen is armor for them. This is how the birth of the discovery began.

Having recovered from the momentary amazement, Roentgen began to study discovered phenomenon and new rays, which he called X-rays. Leaving the case on the tube so that the cathode rays were closed, he, with the screen in his hands, began to move around the laboratory. It turned out that one and a half to two meters is not an obstacle for these unknown rays. They easily penetrate a book, glass, staniol ...

And when the scientist's hand was in the path of unknown rays, he saw the silhouette of her bones on the screen! Fantastic and creepy! But this is only a minute, because Roentgen's next step was a step to the cabinet where the photographic plates were lying, since it was necessary to fix what he saw in the picture.

So a new night experiment began. The scientist discovers that the rays illuminate the plate, that they do not diverge spherically around the tube, but have a certain direction ...

In the morning, exhausted Wilhelm Roentgen went home to rest a little, and then start working again with unknown rays. Fifty days (days and nights) were brought to the altar of an unprecedented pace and depth of exploration. For this time family, health, pupils and students were forgotten.

He did not initiate anyone into his work until he figured it out himself. The first person to whom Roentgen demonstrated his discovery was his wife Bertha. It is a snapshot of her hand, with a wedding ring on her finger, was attached to Roentgen's article "On a new kind of rays", which he sent on December 28, 1895 to the chairman of the Physics and Medicine Society of the University.

The article was quickly published as a separate brochure, and Wilhelm Roentgen sent it out to leading physicists in Europe. Roentgen realized that this opened up unprecedented opportunities, especially in medicine.

X-ray beams, allowing you to see what was previously invisible, made a strong impression on his contemporaries. X-rays became invaluable, but equally important was that they qualitatively enriched our understanding of matter.

The X-rays became a sensation. Roentgen was annoyed by the fame that fell on him, which was taking away his time and interfering with further research, so he rarely appeared with publications, although he did not stop writing - in total Roentgen wrote 58 articles. In 1921, when he was 76 years old, he published an article on the electrical conductivity of crystals.

In 1900 Roentgen received an invitation to the University of Munich. He remained a professor at this university until 1920. In 1903–1906, Russian physicist AF Ioffe was his assistant here.

In Munich, Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen learned that he had become the first Nobel laureate in physics "In recognition of the extraordinarily important services to science, expressed in the discovery of wonderful rays, later named in his honor."

Roentgen never dreamed of a patent or financial reward. He has received many awards, including the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society of London, the Barnard Gold Medal of Columbia University for Distinguished Service to Science. Honorary member and corresponding member of scientific societies in many countries.

A big and whole person both in science and in life - Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen did not betray his principles in anything. Having decided after 1914 that he has no moral right to live better than other people during the war, he transferred all the funds he had to the state, including the Nobel Prize... At the end of his life he had to deny himself a lot. So, in order to visit the places in Switzerland for the last time, where he once lived with his recently deceased wife, he had to give up coffee for almost a year.

Konrad Roentgen was known as the best experimenter. He was offered high posts, but he rejected them in the same way as the proposals of the nobility and various orders that followed his discovery, and the very rays until the last years of his life called them "X-rays", while the whole world has already called them X-rays.

On February 10, 1923, at the age of 78, Roentgen died of cancer - a disease caused by the radiation he had discovered - X-rays.

In honor of Roentgen, a non-systemic unit of gamma radiation dose is named X-ray (R)... There are X-ray cameras, X-ray microscopy, X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray structural analysis, radiography, radiology, fluoroscopy, X-ray therapy and other sciences, the names of which are associated with the name of the legendary German scientist.

Powerful sources of X-rays have been found outside the Earth. In the depths of new and supernova stars, processes take place, during which X-rays of high intensity arise. By measuring the fluxes of X-rays coming to the Earth, astronomers can judge the phenomena that occur many billions of kilometers from our planet. A new area of \u200b\u200bscience has emerged - X-ray astronomy, which studies the radiation of stars and the Sun. A notable discovery was the discovery of X-ray pulsars - a system of two stars, one of which is neutron and the other is gaseous. Rotating, such a system pulsates, and the beam of a giant "X-ray searchlight" rotates with it.

X-ray structural analysis allows physicists and biologists to obtain important information about the structure of matter. In particular, using this method it was shown that the DNA molecule is "twisted" into a double helix. X-rays penetrate both the micro and macro world.

Today we continue our story about the Nobel laureates. The second issue of our column "How to get a Nobel Prize" is dedicated to the first ever laureate in the field of physics, a person who gave his name not only to a unit of radiation dose, but also to a whole range electromagnetic radiation... So, welcome - the real X-man, Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen.

Born on March 27, 1845 in Lennep, Kingdom of Prussia, died on February 10, 1923 in Munich.

1901 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics. The wording of the Nobel Committee: "In recognition of the exceptional services that he rendered to science by the discovery of wonderful rays, subsequently named after him." (In recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him).

Roentgen's teacher can be called the brilliant experimenter August Kundt, who worked as a physics professor at the famous ETH Zurich (Swiss Higher Technical School of Zurich). It was there that Wilhelm entered in 1865, as he wanted to become a mechanical engineer. However, Kundt (by the way, a former teacher and who discovered the pressure of light, Peter Lebedev), seeing the extraordinary abilities of a 20-year-old boy, strongly advised him to do physics, and in 1869 Roentgen became Kundt's assistant. Then, together with his teacher, he moved to Würzburg, then to Strasbourg. Gradually Roentgen himself was already gaining the fame of the finest experimenter. Since 1874 (Roentgen - 29), he himself became a teacher at the University of Strasbourg. This is followed by Giessen and again Würzburg, where in 1894 he became rector of the university. It would seem, 49 years old, an important, honorable and monetary position, what else is needed? But Roentgen set to work in an area in which it seemed that everything had already been done: an electric discharge in a vacuum tube. For example, in a Crookes tube.

William Crookes with a ray tube

Wikimedia Commons

It is a glass vessel with two electrodes at opposite ends, from which almost all the air is pumped out. William Crookes, the creator of this device, discovered that when the air is sufficiently rarefied, the glass at the end of the tube opposite the cathode begins to fluoresce with a yellow-green light, apparently under the action of a certain radiation, which was called cathode rays.

A few words must, of course, be said about William Crookes himself. The famous scientist who discovered thallium and obtained helium in laboratory conditions was an avid spiritualist. In 1874, being 42 years old, in the prime of his scientific powers, he published an article in which he declared that spiritualism is scientific, and that the manifestations of spirits actually occur. The scandal was such that Crookes had to "lie low" for many years - wait for his scientific authority to become unshakable, like his position in the Royal Scientific Society, wait for the knighthood (1897), and in 1898 come out in the spirit of those years, declaring that he is a convinced spiritualist. Crookes remained them until his death in 1919. So from 1913 to 1915 the Royal Society of London was headed, in our opinion, by a pseudo-scientist (but only in this).

But back to X-rays and cathode tubes. By 1895, it seemed that everything about these pipes was already known. And few people could have guessed that only two years would pass, and with the help of the Crookes tube, two major discoveries would be made, which brought two Nobel Prizes in physics. We will talk about the second later when we start talking about the 1906 laureate, the discoverer of the electron, "JJ" Thomson.

And we will continue the story about Roentgen. On Friday night, November 8, Roentgen traditionally stayed late in the laboratory. The assistants went home, it was relatively dark. There was a cathode tube in the laboratory, covered with black cardboard. He turned on the current in it and saw that the paper lying nearby, covered with a crystal of a complex compound of barium and platinum, glowed green. So the scientist, who is already in his sixties, made one of the greatest discoveries in the history of physics - X-rays or X-rays. On a thorough check of everything (he was very scrupulous) Roentgen spent two weeks.

On December 28, 1895, the Annalen der Physik published the first article by Roentgen "On a new kind of rays". The whole point was already in the first paragraph: “If the discharge of a large Rumkorf coil is passed through the tube of Hittorff, Crookes, Lenard or any other device, then the following phenomenon is observed. A piece of paper coated with barium platinum cyanide ( Ba ∙ 4H 2 O), when approaching the tube, closed by a sufficiently tightly fitting cover made of thin black cardboard, flashes with a bright light with each discharge: it begins to fluoresce. Fluorescence is visible with sufficient shading and does not depend on whether to bring the paper with the side coated or uncoated with barium platinum-cyanide. Fluorescence is noticeable even two meters away from the tube. It is easy to verify that the causes of the fluorescence come from the discharge tube and not from some place in the wiring. "

Roentgen's thoroughness in experiments is very noticeable. The first pages of the same article list the objects and substances that Roentgen tested for permeability: paper, a 1000-page book, a double deck of cards, a sheet of staniol, spruce boards of various thicknesses, an aluminum plate, ebonite discs, glass with lead and glass without lead , water, carbon disulfide and other liquids in mica vessels, one's own hand ... "If you hold your hand between the discharge tube and the screen, you can see dark shadows of bones in the faint outline of the hand itself." Very soon the famous X-ray of the hand was taken.

Left hand of Roentgen's wife, right - Kelliker

Wikimedia Commons

In this photo of the left hand, the wedding ring is clearly visible - this is a snapshot of the hand of Roentgen's wife, Anna Berta Ludwig Roentgen. But very often another picture is published, under the same name, and also with a ring on his finger. But this picture is a brush portrait (pardon the pun) of the German anatomist and histologist Albert von Kelliker, a friend of Roentgen. This photograph was taken on January 23, 1896.

So the first medical application of the new discovery was found. Already in 1896, John Francis Hall-Edwards from Birmingen used X-rays in medicine: first, on January 11, he took an X-ray of a hand with a sterile needle inserted into it. And already on February 14 of the same year, he underwent the first operation, during which he, as a surgeon, was guided by an X-ray. A little later (1899) he became the first official radiologist in world medicine. He also owns the honor of using X-rays in military medicine: in 1900 in South Africa, the Hall-Edwards unit used X-rays in a military field hospital during the Boer War. The number of injured people rescued thanks to X-ray machines in the First World War can not be said, because it is estimated at hundreds of thousands. Very important: Roentgen refused a patent on the rays themselves and on the method of obtaining an X-ray image, believing that this should belong to humanity.

Naturally, the fame that fell on Roentgen was deafening (he hated his fame). And it is natural that the first "Nobel" in physics went to him.

There were not many nominations for the very first Nobel Prize: 11 people were nominated 29 times. And the absolute majority was for Roentgen - 16 nominations! Almost the only case of such superiority. Among other candidates, we can mention the Nobel winners in physics Johannes Van der Waals, Peter Zeeman, Guillermo Marconi, Philip von Lenard and Henri Becquerel, the future Nobeliate in chemistry Svante Arrhenius (this unique person was nominated for both chemistry and physics and in medicine), as well as the non-award winning William Thomson, better known to us as Lord Kelvin.

Another thing is interesting: like Arrhenius, Roentgen already in 1906 could become the first twice Nobel laureate in history: since 1906 he was absolutely deservedly nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Another interesting fact from the "Nobel" history of Roentgen: he himself nominated colleagues for the prize six times. In 1901 and 1903 - the already mentioned William Thomson, in 1905 - another Thomson, "JJ" (they say, only after he personally verified the existence of the electron, until then he forbade to pronounce this word in the laboratory). And, surprisingly, despite the fact that Roentgen himself stayed away from the "new physics", in 1917 he nominated Max Planck for the Nobel, and in 1922 - Niels Bohr. Roentgen did not go to receive the award.

The discoverer himself continued his studies. As Abram Ioffe, who worked with him, wrote, in the first year after Roentgen's discovery about X-rays, more than 1000 articles and more than a hundred scientific works... "But for 12 years, no work has added anything significant to what Roentgen has been able to do."

And we need not talk about the possibilities that X-rays have opened to science. Here are just a few examples.

Less than 20 years after the discovery of rays, father and son, William Henry and William Lawrence Braggie, realized that by using X-rays, or rather, X-ray diffraction on a crystal of matter, one can find out the structure of the crystal lattice. This is how X-ray diffraction analysis appeared, and the "family contract" received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1915 (Bragg Jr. became the youngest natural science prize winner of all time: the award went to him at the age of 25!). But few people know that Roentgen himself made an attempt to establish the structure of crystals using X-rays.

Later it turned out that in this way it is possible to determine the structure of proteins, the main thing is to grow crystals from them. This process is a real art, and for the first time it was carried out by the British chemist Dorothy Crowfoot-Hodgkin, who in 1964 was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for her work (all women received the highest scientific award in this category four times). By the way, the fourth woman, Ada Yonath, who received the award in 2009 for studying the structure of the ribosome, used the same X-ray analysis.

Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen belonged to the scientists of the "old school", where outstanding achievements in science were very often combined with personal modesty and extraordinary personal qualities. In 1917, Germany was already losing the war. Products were distributed by food cards. Many friends and scientists sent packages of butter and sugar to the X-ray, but the X-ray handed over all of its packages for distribution among the townspeople. With great difficulty, the authorities forced Roentgen, who lost 24 kilograms, to switch to an improved ration. At the first call of the state, the scientist gave away all his capital placed in Dutch securities.

In 1919, his beloved wife died. In 1920, Roentgen resigned from all posts and was left almost without funds. In order to have time to visit his beloved wife and wife in Switzerland before his death, Roentgen refused coffee and other excesses for a whole year. Nevertheless, he managed everything in his life.

Every year, as part of the medical examination, a huge number of people undergo a fluorography procedure. When there is a suspicion of a fracture or other damage to the bones, radiography is used. These procedures have long become commonplace, although if you think about it, they themselves are amazing. Who was the man who immortalized his name, giving the world a powerful diagnostic tool? Where and when was Wilhelm Roentgen born?

early years

The future scientist was born on March 17, 1845 in the city of Lennep, on the site of the present Remscheid, in Germany. His father was a manufacturer and was engaged in the sale of clothes, dreaming of transferring his business one day to William. Mother was from the Netherlands. Three years after the birth of his only son, the family moved to Amsterdam, where the future inventor began his studies. His first educational institution became a private establishment led by Martinus von Dorn.

The father of the future scientist believed that the manufacturer needed an engineering education, and his son was absolutely not opposed - he was interested in science. In 1861, Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen moved to Utrecht Technical School, from which he was soon expelled, refusing to extradite a companion who drew a caricature of one of the teachers when an internal investigation began.

Having flown out of school, Roentgen Wilhelm did not receive any documents on education, so admission to a higher educational institution was now a difficult task for him - he could only apply for the status of a volunteer. In 1865, it was with such initial data that he tried to become a student at Utrecht University, but was defeated.

Training and work

Nevertheless, perseverance served him well. A little later, he still became a student, although not in the Netherlands. In accordance with the desire of his father, he was determined to get an engineering education and became a student of the Federal Polytechnic Zurich Institute. Throughout the years spent within its walls, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen was particularly passionate about physics. Gradually, he begins to conduct his research. In 1869, he completed his studies with a diploma in mechanical engineering and a Ph.D. In the end, deciding to make his hobby a favorite job, he goes to university and defends his dissertation, after which he proceeds to and begins to lecture to students. Later, he moves several times from one educational institution to another, and in 1894 became rector in Würzburg. After 6 years, Roentgen moved to Munich, where he worked until the end of his career. But then it was still far away.

Main directions

Like any scientist, William worked in various scientific fields. Basically, the German physicist Roentgen was interested in some properties of crystals, studied the relationship between electrical and optical phenomena in them, and also conducted studies of magnetism, on which the Lorentz electronic theory was later based. And who knew that studying crystals later would bring him worldwide recognition and many rewards?

Personal life

While still at the University of Zurich, Wilhelm Roentgen (1845-1923) met his future wife, Anna Bert Ludwig. She was the daughter of the owner of the boarding house at the institute, so they had to deal with at one time quite often. In 1872 they got married. The couple was very gentle to each other and wanted children. However, Anna did not manage to get pregnant, and then they adopted an orphaned six-year-old girl, the niece of Frau Bertha.

Of course, understanding the importance of her husband’s work, the wife at the final stages of research tried to make sure that he ate and rested on time, while the scientist devoted himself entirely to work, forgetting about his own needs. These patience and work were fully rewarded - it was the spouse who served as a kind of model to demonstrate the discovery: the image of her hand with a ring circled the whole world.

In 1919, when his beloved wife died, and the adopted daughter got married, Wilhelm was already 74 years old. Despite the worldwide fame, he felt terribly lonely, the attention of strangers even bothered him. In addition, he was in great need, transferring all means to the government during the First World War. After the death of his wife, he himself lived quite a bit, having died at the beginning of 1923 of cancer - the result of constant interaction with the rays discovered by him.

X-ray

Wilhelm, by and large, especially did not try to make a career. He was already 50 years old, and there weren’t any great achievements, but he didn’t seem to be interested in this at all - he just liked to move science forward, pushing the limits of what was studied. He stayed up late in the laboratory, endlessly conducting experiments and analyzing their results. Autumn evening of 1895 was no exception. Leaving and already extinguished the light, he noticed a spot on the cathode tube. Deciding that he simply forgot to turn it off, the scientist turned the switch. The mysterious spot immediately disappeared, but the investigator became very interested. Several times he repeated this experiment, coming to the conclusion that everything was to blame for the mysterious radiation.

Obviously, he felt that he was on the verge of a great discovery, because even his wife, with whom he usually talked about work, he did not say anything. The next two months were entirely devoted to understanding the properties of the mysterious rays. X-ray Wilhelm placed various objects between the cathode tube and the screen, analyzing the results. Paper and wood completely transmitted radiation, while metal and some other materials cast shadows, and their intensity depended, among other things, on the density of the substance.

Properties

Further studies yielded very interesting results. Firstly, it turned out that lead completely absorbs this radiation. Secondly, placing his hand between the tube and the screen, the scientist received an image of the bones inside it. And thirdly, the rays illuminated the film, so the results of each study could well be documented, which was what Wilhelm Roentgen did, the discoveries of which still needed to be properly prepared before they could be presented to the public.

Three years after the first experiments, a German physicist published an article in a scientific journal, to which he attached an image that clearly demonstrates the penetrating power of rays, and described the properties he had already studied. Immediately after this, dozens of scientists confirmed this by conducting experiments on their own. In addition, some researchers stated that they had encountered this radiation, but did not attach importance to it. Now they scolded themselves for inattention, envying, as it seemed to them, just a more successful colleague named Wilhelm Roentgen.

Immediately after the publication of the article, a huge number of dexterous dealers appeared, who claimed that with the help of X-radiation you can look into the human soul. More mundane advertised devices, supposedly allowing you to see through clothes. For example, in the United States, Edison was commissioned to develop using radiation. And although the idea failed, it caused quite a stir. But merchants who sold clothes advertised their products, claiming that their goods did not transmit rays, and women could feel safe, which significantly increased sales. All this terribly bothered a scientist who simply wanted to continue his scientific research.

Application

When William Roentgen discovered and showed what they are capable of, it literally blew up society. Until that moment, it was impossible to look inside a living person, to see his tissue without cutting and damaging them. And it showed what the human skeleton looks like in combination with other systems. Medicine was the first and main area where open rays were applied. With their help, it has become much easier for doctors to diagnose any problems of the musculoskeletal system, as well as assess the severity of injuries. Later, X-radiation began to be used to treat certain diseases.

In addition, these rays are used to detect defects in metal products, and even with their help the chemical composition of certain materials can be detected. In art criticism, X-rays are also used, with which you can see what is hidden under the upper layers of paint.

Confession

The discovery caused a real stir, which was completely incomprehensible to the scientist. Instead of continuing research, X-ray Wilhelm was forced to consider and reject the endless offers of German and American merchants who suggested that he design various devices based on X-radiation. Journalists also did not allow the scientist to work, constantly making appointments and interviews, and each of them asked a question about why X-ray does not want to get a patent for his discovery. He replied to each of them that he considered the rays to be the property of all mankind and did not feel entitled to limit its use for good purposes.

Awards

Wilhelm Roentgen was characterized by natural modesty and a lack of desire for fame. He refused the noble title, to which he received the right after being awarded the order. And in 1901 it became the first, despite the fact that it was top level recognition, the researcher did not come to the ceremony, although he accepted the award. Later he transferred this money to the government. In 1918, he was also awarded the Helmholtz Medal.

Legacy and memory

All of the same modesty Roentgen Wilhelm called his discovery extremely simply - X-radiation. This name stuck, however, the student of the researcher, a Russian physicist, over time introduced a concept that perpetuated the name of the scientist. The term "x-rays" in foreign speech is used relatively rarely, but it still occurs.

In 1964, one of the craters on back side the moon. One of the units of measure of ionizing healing is also named after him. Many cities have streets named after his last name, as well as monuments. There is even a museum located in the house where Roentgen lived as a child. The biography of this person may not be full of interesting details, but it perfectly illustrates that you can achieve high results through diligence and perseverance, as well as attentiveness.

Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen. X-ray discovery

X-ray Wilhelm Konrad Wilhelm Konrad X-ray was born on March 17, 1845 in the German border region of Germany, in the city of Lenepe. He received a technical education in Zurich at the same Higher Technical School (Polytechnic), in which Einstein later studied. Passion for physics made him continue his physical education after graduating from school in 1866.

Having defended his thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1868, he works as an assistant in the Department of Physics, first in Zurich, then in Giessen, and then in Strasbourg (1874-79) at Kundt. Here, X-ray passed a good experimental school and became a first-class experimenter. He made accurate measurements of the Cp / Su ratio for gases, the viscosity and permittivity of a number of liquids, investigated the elastic properties of crystals, their piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties, and measured the magnetic field of moving charges (X-ray current). X-ray performed some of the important studies with his student, one of the founders of Soviet physics, A.F. Ioffe.

Scientific research relates to electromagnetism, crystal physics, optics, molecular physics.

In 1895 he discovered radiation with a wavelength shorter than the wavelength of ultraviolet rays (X-rays), hereinafter referred to as x-rays, and investigated their properties: the ability to reflect, absorb, ionize air, etc. He proposed the correct design of a tube for X-ray production - inclined platinum anticathode and concave cathode: the first took photographs using x-rays. He discovered in 1885 the magnetic field of a dielectric moving in an electric field (the so-called “X-ray current”). His experience clearly showed that the magnetic field is created by moving charges, and was important for the creation of X. Lorentz electronic theory. A significant number of X-ray works are devoted to the study of the properties of liquids, gases, crystals, electromagnetic phenomena, discovered the relationship of electrical and optical phenomena in crystals. For the discovery of the rays bearing his name, in 1901, Roentgen was the first among physicists to be awarded the Nobel Prize.

From 1900 to last days life (he died on February 10, 1923), he worked at the University of Munich.

X-ray discovery

The end of the XIX century. It was marked by an increased interest in the phenomena of the passage of electricity through gases. Even Faraday was seriously engaged in these phenomena, described various forms of discharge, and discovered a dark space in the luminous column of rarefied gas. Faraday dark space separates the bluish, cathode glow from the pinkish, anode.

A further increase in gas rarefaction significantly changes the nature of the glow. The mathematician Plücker (1801-1868) discovered in 1859, with a sufficiently strong rarefaction, a weakly bluish beam of rays emanating from the cathode, reaching the anode and causing the glass of the tube to glow. The student of Plücker Hittorf (1824-1914) in 1869 continued the studies of the teacher and showed that a distinct shadow appears on the fluorescent surface of the tube if a solid is placed between the cathode and this surface.

Goldstein (1850-1931), studying the properties of rays, called them cathode rays (1876). Three years later, William K ruk \u200b\u200b(1832-1919) proved the material nature of cathode rays and called them “radiant matter,” a substance in a special fourth state. His evidence was convincing and clear. The experiments with the “Crookes tube” were demonstrated later in all physical rooms. The deflection of the cathode beam by the magnetic field in the Crookes tube has become a classic school demonstration.

However, experiments on the electric deflection of cathode rays were not so convincing. Hertz did not find such a deviation and came to the conclusion that the cathode ray is an oscillatory process in the ether. Hertz’s student F. Lenard, experimenting with cathode rays, in 1893 showed that they pass through a window covered by aluminum foil and cause a glow in the space behind the window. Hertz devoted his last article, published in 1892, to the phenomenon of the passage of cathode rays through thin metal bodies. It began with the words:

“Cathode rays differ significantly from light in terms of their ability to penetrate solids.” Describing the results of experiments on the passage of cathode rays through gold, silver, platinum, aluminum, etc. Hertz notes that he did not observe special differences in the phenomena. The rays pass through the leaves not in a straight line, but diffractedly scatter. The nature of the cathode rays was still unclear.

Professor Wurzburg Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen experimented with such pipes of Crookes, Lenard, and others at the end of 1895. Once at the end of the experiment, closing the pipe with a black cardboard cover, turning off the light, but still not turning off the inductor supplying the pipe, he noticed a screen glow from barium synergy located near the tube. Struck by this circumstance, X-ray began to experiment with the screen. In his first message, “On a new kind of rays,” dated December 28, 1895, he wrote about these first experiments: “A piece of paper covered with platinum-barium barium, when approaching a tube covered with a thin black cardboard cover that is tight enough to fit it, at each discharge flashes a bright light: begins to fluoresce. Fluorescence is visible with sufficient dimming and does not depend on whether the paper is brought up with the side coated with barium synergy or not coated with barium synergy. Fluorescence is noticeable even at a distance of two meters from the tube. ”

A thorough study showed X-ray, "that black cardboard, which is not transparent to either the visible and ultraviolet rays of the sun, or to the rays of an electric arc, is penetrated by some agent that causes fluorescence." X-rays examined the penetrating power of this “agent”, which for short he called “X-rays”, for various substances. He found that the rays freely pass through paper, wood, hard rubber, thin layers of metal, but are strongly delayed by lead.

He then describes the sensational experience:

“If you hold your hand between the discharge tube and the screen, you can see the dark shadows of the bones in the faint outlines of the shadow of the hand itself.” This was the first fluoroscopic study of the human body. The X-ray received the first X-rays, attaching them to his hand.

These pictures made a great impression; the discovery had not yet been completed, and the X-ray diagnostics had already begun its journey. “My laboratory was awash with doctors who brought in patients who suspected they had needles in different parts of the body,” wrote the English physicist Schuster.

After the first experiments, X-ray firmly established that X-rays are different from cathode, they do not carry a charge and are not deflected by a magnetic field, but they are excited by cathode rays. “... X-rays are not identical with cathode rays, but are excited by them in the glass walls of the discharge tube,” Roentgen wrote.

He also established that they are excited not only in glass, but also in metals.

Mentioning the Hertz-Lenard hypothesis that cathode rays "are a phenomenon occurring on the air," Roentgen points out that "we can say something similar about our rays." However, he was not able to detect the wave properties of the rays, they "behave differently than the previously known ultraviolet, visible, infrared rays." In their chemical and luminescent actions, they, according to X-ray, are similar to ultraviolet rays. In the first message, he expressed the assumption left afterwards that they can be longitudinal waves on the air.

The discovery of X-ray aroused great interest in the scientific world. His experiments were repeated in almost all laboratories in the world. In Moscow, P. N. Lebedev repeated them. In St. Petersburg, radio inventor A.S. Popov experimented with X-rays, demonstrated them in public lectures, receiving various radiographs. At Cambridge, D. D. Thomson immediately applied the ionizing effect of X-rays to study the passage of electricity through gases. His research led to the discovery of an electron.

List of references

1. Kudryavtsev P.S. History of Physics. state student ped ed. Min pros. RSFSR. M., 1956

2. Kudryavtsev P. S. A course in the history of physics M.: Education, 1974

3. Temples Yu. A. Physics: Bibliographic reference. 2nd edition, rev. and add. M .: Science, main ed. Phys.-Math. lit., 1983

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