Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

In nature, most rays are invisible to the naked eye, but people can find them in other ways, such as thermometers for thermal effects, induction coils for electromagnetic effects, fluorescent displays for light effects, Geiger counters for ionization effects, cloud chambers, etc., and there is an easier way to expose the film with the chemical effect of radiation. Invisible X-rays were discovered by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen.

William Roentgen was born in a cloth merchant family in Lenap, Germany, on March 27, 1845. At the age of 3, his family moved to the Netherlands. When he was in primary and secondary school, Roentgen did not work very hard, liked to play in the wild and woods, and was better at craftsmanship, especially like tinkering with machinery and electrical appliances. This hobby and habit benefited him from his later inventions throughout his life. In 1865, Roentgen studied physics at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and mechanical engineering at the Federal Polytechnic University of Zurich four years later. During this period, he took the course of Clausius, a famous physicist, and served as an assistant to Professor Conte. Clausius' honest behavior, rich knowledge and self-cultivation, Conte's rigorous experimental style and scientific experimental methods all have a profound impact on Roentgen. After obtaining his doctorate, he officially became Conte's assistant, and the following year, he followed the mentor back to work at the University of Strasbourg in Germany.

Rontgen became president of the University of W ü rzburg in 1894. Roentgen mainly engaged in physical experimental research in his life, and made important achievements in many aspects, such as magnetic effect of rechargeable dielectric movement, specific heat capacity of gas, optical rotation, elasticity of matter, capillarity and so on. However, these experimental results did not attract the attention of the world because of another important discovery that shocked the world later. It was proved afterwards that Roentgen's discovery played a vital role in physics and even the development of science and technology in the world.

On November 8, 1895, when Roentgen was experimenting with a cathode ray tube, he stumbled upon two strange things: one was the fluorescence of a fluorescent screen placed opposite the cathode ray tube, and the other surprised him even more. A nearby photosensitive plate turned black. The bottom plate was so tightly wrapped in tin foil and cardboard that it was impossible for light to penetrate it, and he could not find out the reason for blackening it.

Roentgen guessed that there must be an inherent reason for these two strange phenomena, and finally inferred that the cathode ray tube must have emitted an unknown ray. In order to find out, he managed to separate the cathode ray tube from the fluorescent screen and inserted cardboard, books, rubber board, wood board successively. In short, all the opaque things that can be found still can not block this strange ray. Recalling the situation at that time, Roentgen said that the unstoppable radiation made him feel "creepy"!

At last, he turned out a lead plate in a corner of the laboratory and finally blocked the ray. Because he really didn't know what it was, Roentgen called it "X-ray".

The scene of Roentgen working in the laboratory was completely fascinated by X-rays. During the first period of time, for many days, he ate and lived in the laboratory without going home. Because of his misgivings about unknown rays, he kept it a secret from his colleagues and even his family. The wife did not know what had happened and came to see him in the laboratory, and an even weirder thing happened. After his wife came to the lab, Roentgen did not think much about it and asked her to put her hand on the package on the photographic plate, which unexpectedly showed the image of the wife's hand bone and wedding ring. The wife was frightened and exclaimed, "I saw myself dead!" Roentgen was also stunned by the image.

In this way, unwittingly, Roentgen's wife became the first person to take X-ray images. This made Roentgen feel inexplicably frightened. He was worried that this "ghostly ray" would cause criticism, but at the same time he realized how valuable it would be to be able to see the human body through the skin. Roentgen finally decided to make it public.

On December 18, 1895, Roentgen's paper was published entitled "the study of a New kind of Ray". The media responded quickly, and the newspapers published Roentgen's new findings in big headlines, causing a sensation in the scientific community. The astonishing news quickly spread to France, where philosopher Pengale reported Roentgen's discovery and images at a regular meeting of the Academy of Sciences in Paris. This incident was learned by French physicist Henry Becquerel that with this unknown ray as a clue, the radioactivity of elements was discovered in only one year, which led to the study of nuclear physics and nuclear technology, and became the beginning of the field of human nuclear science.

Roentgen found a pair of glasses that can penetrate human skin. Using this principle, people invented the X-ray machine. X-ray machine has become an indispensable examination instrument in modern medicine. while leading the substantial development of medicine, X-ray machine has also become a necessary tool for radioactivity safety monitoring. In the research of radiation medicine, X-ray machine has become the guarantee of human health in the link of disease prevention and treatment, while in safety monitoring and safety inspection, X-ray machine also ensures the safety of people's life and social stability.

In addition, in recent decades, X-ray technology has made great breakthroughs and development, which has made great progress in the research and application of X-ray photography, X-ray telescope, X-ray gene breakthrough technology, X-ray crystallography and so on. the general origin of all this is due to the strange discovery of Roentgen a hundred years ago.

In 1901, Roentgen, who was regarded as the father of radiation medicine, won the first Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of X-rays and became the first person in the world to receive this honor. To benefit more people from the discovery, Roentgen did not apply for a patent for the discovery. Like Pierre Curie, he donated all the Nobel prize money. All his prize money was donated to the University of Wurzburg as a research fund. But he himself was strapped by inflation and bank bankruptcy after the first World War.

Roentgen died of illness on February 10, 1923. According to his will, all his personal belongings, including notes, diaries and relics of personal experimental research, were destroyed. After a simple farewell for him by his relatives and friends, he was buried in the old Elderhoff cemetery in Giesen, Germany. Some of his manuscripts and relics that have not been completely destroyed have been collected and are now in the famous Bethesda National Library of Medicine in Maryland.

Eldhoff Old Cemetery Source: 365 days in the History of Science, slightly deleted by Wei Fengwen Wu Yi Editor: Zhang Runxin this article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:tupydread, by Wei Fengwen, Wu Yi, editor: Zhang Runxin

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