History of Radiography

An insightful discovery

It all began on this day 112 years ago with Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, a professor and head of the department of physics at the Julius-Maximillan University at Würzburg in Germany.

On the 8 November 1895, Röntgen was working with cathode rays using evacuated glass bulbs. He noted that when a current was passed across the bulb, a barium platinocyanide screen was seen to fluoresce. He at once realised the significance of this observation. Simultaneously he noted the effect of the new phenomena on photographic plates.

On 28 December 1895, he submitted a manuscript entitled “On a New Kind of Ray” to the Würzburg Physical Medical Institute. It outlined the essential features of what he termed “X-rays”. The new discovery aroused considerable interest and raised many eyebrows.

His assertion that it was possible to see through the body was greeted by many with considerable incredulity and great pains were made to reassure the public that this was indeed a serious discovery by a respected scientist.

A few weeks later the discovery was reported in the world’s newspapers. The press viewed Rontgen’s invisible rays as sensational news because of their ability to penetrate substances such as wood, clothing and human skin. Almost immediately, home-made sets were built and used to produce medical x-rays. Within three months of Rontgen’s discovery, radiographs were generated in all major cities on four continents.

The curiosity of the public about the invisible rays knew no bounds, and crowds flocked to lecture-demonstrations and public displays of x-rays.

Cartoons appeared in the popular magazine Punch and people everywhere cracked jokes about “Mr Rontgen’s naughty rays”.

The first x-rays in Britain were made early in 1896 by enthusiastic amateurs operating fragile home-made apparatus. They included academics like Professor Henry Jackson, commercial photographers, and amateur scientists such as Archibald Campbell Swinton. These pioneers were soon joined by doctors.

Just 13 months after Röntgen’s discovery x-ray sets were installed in most hospitals. Medical pioneers such as Thurstan Holland (Liverpool), John Hall-Edwards (Birmingham) and John Macintyre (Glasgow) began their careers as the world’s first radiologists and radiographers.

Six years after his discovery, in 1901, Röntgen was awarded the first Nobel Prize for physics.