ABSTRACT
X-rays were discovered by Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen on November 8th 1895 in his laboratory at the Physical Institute of the Julius-Maximilians University of Wurzburg in Bavaria. At the time Rontgen was investigating the phenomena caused by the passage of an electrical discharge from an induction coil through a partially evacuated glass tube. The tube was covered with black paper and the whole room was in complete darkness, yet he observed that, elsewhere in the room, a paper screen covered with the fluorescent material barium platinocyanide became illuminated. More important though, he found that 'Strangest of all, while flesh was very transparent, bones were fairly opaque, and interposing his hand between the source of the rays and his bit of luminescent cardboard, he saw the bones of his living hand projected in silhouette upon the screen. The great discovery was made'.
