Digital X-rays come of age
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2006
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South African Medical Journal
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
In early November 1895 Willem Röntgen performed an experiment in which invisible cathode rays, generated by electrostatic discharges from within an evacuated glass tube, caused a cardboard screen painted with barium platinocyanide to fluoresce. Although the new rays would also come to bear his name, Röntgen called them X-rays, apparently using the mathematical designation for something unknown.1 While investigating the ability of various materials to stop the Xrays, he stepped into the line of the rays to introduce a piece of lead and was startled to see an image of his own skeleton shimmering on the fluorescent screen. His groundbreaking article2 was published less than 2 months later on 28 December 1895.
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Reference:
Vaughan, C. (2006). Digital X-rays come of age. South African Medical Journal, 96(7), 610.