Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen accidentally discovered an image cast from his cathode ray generator on November 8th 1895! After investigations it showed that the rays were generated at the point of contact of the cathode ray beam on the inside of the vacuum tube an d not deflected by magnetic fields, and they penetrated many kinds of matter.
One week after Wilhelm made the discovery he took an X ray of his wife’s hand and it clearly showed her wedding ring and all of the bones in her hand! The photo immediately caught the attention of scientists and this new form of radiation. Wilhelm named this new form of radiation X-Radiation with the X meaning the “unknown”. Imagine if Wilhelm never discovered this how would we be able to tell if someone broke a bone?
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blxray.htm
Hopefully he didn't use the x-rays on his wife too much, or else she would get cancer. While x-rays are an important scientific discovery it should be noted that they can be pretty dangerous. That is why doctors and dentists give you those heavy lead jackets to cover yourself up with. The electromagnetic waves of x-rays have a high wavelength and contain a lot of energy. These kind of waves have enough energy to break chemical bonds inside humans and animals and ultimately lead to cancer.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered how the none visible wavelengths were discovered. It's interesting to see just how many of our society's greatest inventions came in the form of accidents.
ReplyDeleteI went on to check out some of the other wavelengths, specifically infrared. Unfortunately the discovery of that was theorized way before its discovery. William Herschelnoticed that there are colors beyond red that were refracted and absorbed by a prism. Hence the name infrared, which means below red
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/ir_tutorial/discovery.html