ABSTRACT
Thereseemstoexistsomekindofrelationshipbetweenthenew raysandlightrays;atleastthisisindicatedbytheformation ofshadows,thefluorescenceandthechemicalactionproduced bythemboth.Now,wehaveknownforalongtimethatthere canbeintheetherlongitudu1.alvibrationsbesidesthetransverse light-vibrations;and,accordingtotheviewsofdifferentphysicists, thesevibrationsmustexist.Theirexistence,itistrue,hasnotbeen proveduptothepresent,andconsequentlytheirpropertieshave notbeeninvestigatedbyexperiment. Oughtnot,therefore,thenewraystobeascribedtolongitudinal vibrationsintheether? ImustconfessthatinthecourseoftheinvestigationIhavebecome moreandmoreconfidentofthecorrectnessofthisidea,andso,
myself to announce this am aware that the explanation confirmation. [9-1]
although I needs further
Rontgen was not alone in his conjecture. The Austrian theorist Ludwig Boltzmann, of the University of Vienna, shared his views in a lecture on x-rays in January 1896, as did Oliver Lodge-then at University College, Liverpool. J J Thomson was at first noncommittal on the matter, declaring that 'whether these waves are transverse or longitudinal is ... at present an open question' [9-2]. Lorentz, too, refrained from committing himself (though see Whittaker: note 1-19, pp 360-1). As noted earlier, perhaps Schuster was the first to get it right, suggesting in early 1896 that the rays were transverse vibrations of very short wavelengths. One who definitely agreed with Schuster was Emil Wiechert, of whom a brief background is not amiss.
