- The discovery of x-rays wasn't made famous
because of publications in the scientific paper.
In fact, despite the fact that the discover of the x-ray,
Wilhelm Roentgen, wrote a very well-written
and accurate paper,
it was mostly discovered by scientists
reading their morning paper.
Why did it happen that way?
Well, I'll tell you.
Ready? Let's go.
♪ Electricity, electricity ♪
- On December 28th, 1895, a small scientific paper
connected to the University of Wuerzburg
published a small paper written by
a shy 50-year-old physicist named Wilhelm Roentgen.
Seven weeks before, Roentgen had accidentally discovered
that a covered vacuum tube could produce a new type of ray
that had extraordinary power
and could travel through skin and muscle,
but would leave shadow images of bones.
Roentgen also discovered that
these rays that he called x-rays,
to distinguish from other kinds of rays, could develop film.
And for that reason, he asked his wife Bertha
to hold her hand over a covered film
and take the first medical x-ray.
This ghostly image where her wedding ring
hung suspended on her bones
created an iconic look that were copied
in many early medical x-ray photographs.
However, Roentgen's paper,
like every other article in that magazine,
was not published with any pictures.
And without the photographic evidence,
Roentgen's conclusion seemed so outlandish
that they might've been, as Roentgen's own friends said,
looked upon as the hallucination of a sick mind
or the trick of a practical joker.
On January 5th, Roentgen took his photographs and his paper
to a meeting of the Berlin Physics Society,
where they and Roentgen were ignored in a secluded corner,
hidden by many spectators.
However, Roentgen also sent 12 copies of his paper
with photographs to famous scientists throughout the world.
One lucky recipient was a former coworker of Roentgen's
named Franz Exner.
The same day Exner received the paper and photographs,
Exner happened half a large dinner party
where he regaled his guests
with this extraordinary tale over cigars.
Exner's friend, Ernst Lecher,
was fascinated and asked to borrow the paper
and photographs to show his father.
See, not only was Lecher a physicist,
who immediately understood
the implications of Rankin's discovery,
he was also the son of the main editor
of Vienna's biggest newspaper.
That night, Lecher and his father wrote
the first article about x-rays,
titled, "A Sensational Discovery."
They admitted that it, quote,
"Sounds like a fairy tale in the style of Jules Verne,"
but it was not a daring April Fool's joke,
but a serious study by a legitimate scientist
that was supported by photographic evidence.
By the next day, January 6th, 1896,
most major newspapers in Germany had an article about it,
as well as several newspapers in London.
The Guardian titled it "A Really Sensational Discovery"
and The London Standard reassured their readers that, quote,
"There is no joke or humbug in the matter.
It is a serious discovery by a serious German professor."
Once it hit London,
the news quickly spread around the world.
I found two separate articles
published on January 7th from Kansas.
Not everyone was super excited about these results.
The Graphic from London worried about, quote.
"Our helplessness, if we were unable
to call even our bones our own
due to the new light from this demon professor."
This was right above an article stating that
England needed a law to protect their fragile men from,
quote, "the drunken, violent, extravagant,
or incurably lazy wife."
So it's quite possible that the editors of that paper
liked to fuss.
Anyway, part of what made x-rays so immediately popular
is that Roentgen's extraordinary claims
were easily reproducible with just the bare details
given in the original x-ray article.
Cathode rays had been discovered way back in 1859.
So by 1896, almost every scientific laboratory
had an old Crookes tube or head torch tube
or other kind of vacuum tube in a closet somewhere
to make x-rays with.
Roentgen's rise to fame was astronomical.
By January 13th, just eight days after the original article,
Roentgen was invited by the Kaiser of Germany
to give a private demonstration of his new rays.
Roentgen then refused many, many, many offers
to give public talks, but finally, on January 23rd,
he gave a sold-out talk at Roentgen's university.
He was given a standing ovation
even before he started talking.
At this talk, Roentgen took another x-ray
of a person's hand.
And when the film was developed, the owner of the hand
started a round of three cheers for Roentgen
and a proposal that x-rays be renamed Roentgen rays
or Roentgenstrahlen, which was universally accepted.
In Germany, they're still often called that to this day.
Phillip Lenard, who invented the specific kind of tube
that Roentgen probably discovered the x-ray with,
wrote Roentgen a complimentary letter saying that, quote,
"Because your remarkable discovery
caused such remarkable tension in the furthest circles,
my modest work has also come into the limelight."
Yes, two remarkables in one sentence.
Roentgen replied that they had,
quote, "Reason for mutual congratulations,"
and that he was, quote, "Very happy that my work has found
such a ready recognition from you."
However, Lenard started to sour on the relationship
and be consumed with jealousy.
It seemed like Roentgen was getting all the fame.
He did get innumerable honors, prizes,
including the first Nobel Prize, and towns named after him.
Lenard started to push that Roentgen didn't accomplish much,
complaining that, quote, "Anyone who was wide awake
and using a Lenard tube could have discovered the x-rays."
Eventually, Lenard took succor in fascism
and became the head of the Aryan science
during World War II.
Meanwhile, Roentgen was embarrassed and overwhelmed.
His wife Bertha wrote a cousin in 1896 that, quote,
"It is not a small matter to become a famous man
and few people realize how much work
and unrest this carries with it."
Roentgen detested the attention
and his wife's health started to deteriorate.
So he disappeared from public life to take care of her.
After that talk on the 23rd,
he never gave another large talk about x-rays
and he donated all of the money
that he won from the Nobel Prize to his university.
Roentgen wrote to a friend that, quote,
"After a few days, I was disgusted with the whole thing."
He wrote two more papers about x-rays
and died bankrupt in 1923.
Roentgen was sick of x-rays,
but the rest of the world was in an x-ray craze.
It seemed, as a contemporary put it, like quote,
"An almost supernatural glimpse into a new world."
Within a year, Edison had invented a Vitascope,
which was a screen of calcium tungstate
that would glow brightly when hit with x-rays
so that it was visible even in a lit room.
Therefore, you could use it uncovered x-ray machine
and just hold the screen in front of a patient
to get a live view of their insides,
as well as a good dose of x-rays
for both the patient and the doctor.
Soon, traveling entertainers would give x-ray demonstrations
to the delighted and shocked populous.
People made money selling x-ray-proof underwear
to protect you from x-ray perverts.
X-rays were used to cure headaches, to size your hat,
to get rid of pimples, to cure mastitis,
to fix asthma, and for unwanted hair removal.
My mother has fond stories of playing
with a continually running x-ray machine
at her local shoe store,
which were a thousand times stronger than modern x-rays.
Astonishingly, shoe fluoroscopes were popular
in the United States up until the 1970s.
Back in 1896, the general public
wasn't the only one interested in x-rays.
The scientific community was also blown away.
Ernest Rutherford recalled that as soon as they heard of it,
every laboratory in the world took out
its old Crookes tubes to produce x-rays.
This immediately led to a sea change of physics discoveries.
In France, mere months later,
Henri Becquerel was trying to see
if the fluorescence was somehow the source of x-rays
and discovered radiation.
The very next year in England,
Ernest Rutherford's graduate advisor,
a man named J.J. Thompson,
was inspired by the discovery of the x-ray
to study the cathode ray a little more.
How he ended up discovering the first subatomic particle,
the electron, and redefining our reality
is next time on The Lightning Tamers.
♪ Electricity, electricity ♪
- Thanks for watching my video.
Please remember to give it a nice thumbs up.
If you're interested in that first article,
my lovely brother-in-law translated it
from original old German into English
and I have a link in the comments section below.
Also, if you're interested more
in the physics of how the x-rays were developed,
please watch my last videos,
or how Lenard invented his tube,
I also have a video on that.
Okay. Have a nice day, and don't forget to subscribe.
♪ I'm done with x-rays ♪
♪ I'm done with x-rays. ♪
Woo!