Okla-homey
11/8/2007, 07:22 AM
Nov. 6, 1895: Wilhelm Roentgen discovers X-ray technology
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/32982/2002010131992016214_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002010131992016214)
Wilhelm Roentgen
112 years ago on this is day in 1895, physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (1845-1923) becomes the first person to observe X-rays, a significant scientific advancement that would ultimately benefit a variety of fields, most of all medicine, by making the invisible visible.
Roentgen's discovery occurred accidentally in his Wurzburg, Germany, lab, where he was testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass when he noticed a glow coming from a nearby chemically coated screen. He dubbed the rays that caused this glow X-rays because of their unknown nature.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/33030/2002053860780279978_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002053860780279978)
Roentgen has an element named in his honor
X-rays are electromagnetic energy waves that act similarly to light rays, but at wavelengths approximately 1,000 times shorter than those of light. Rontgen holed up in his lab and conducted a series of experiments to better understand his discovery. He learned that X-rays penetrate human flesh but not higher-density substances such as bone or lead and that they can be photographed.
http://aycu12.webshots.com/image/31611/2002020634353964885_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002020634353964885)
Roentgen's 1910 x-ray system
Roentgen's discovery was labeled a medical miracle and X-rays soon became an important diagnostic tool in medicine, allowing doctors to see inside the human body for the first time without surgery. In 1897, X-rays were first used on a military battlefield, during the Balkan War, to find bullets and broken bones inside patients.
Scientists were quick to realize the benefits of X-rays, but slower to comprehend the harmful effects of radiation. Initially, it was believed X-rays passed through flesh as harmlessly as light. However, within several years, researchers began to report cases of burns and skin damage after exposure to X-rays, and in 1904, Thomas Edison's assistant, Clarence Dally, who had worked extensively with X-rays, died of skin cancer.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/31903/2002046599088324686_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002046599088324686)
Clarence Dally
Dally's death caused some scientists to begin taking the risks of radiation more seriously, but they still weren't fully understood. During the 1930s, 40s and 50s, in fact, many American shoe stores featured shoe-fitting fluoroscopes that used to X-rays to enable customers to see the bones in their feet; it wasn't until the 1950s that this practice was determined to be risky business.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/34870/2002024685847983107_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002024685847983107)
The shoe fitting fluoroscope was a common fixture in shoe stores during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. A typical unit, like the Adrian machine shown here, consisted of a vertical wooden cabinet with an opening near the bottom into which the feet were placed. When you looked through one of the three viewing ports on the top of the cabinet (e.g., one for the child being fitted, one for the child's parent, and the third for the shoe salesman), you would see a fluorescent image of the bones of the feet and the outline of the shoes.
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/33905/2002017018073517593_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002017018073517593)
Wilhelm Roentgen received numerous accolades for his work, including the first Nobel Prize in physics n 1901, yet he remained modest and never tried to patent his discovery. Today, X-ray technology is widely used in medicine, material analysis and devices such as airport security scanners.
Of course, the technology also led to the introduction of a medical specialty. Docs who specialize in the area of interpretation of x-rays and magnetic resonance imagery (MRI), otherwise known as "radiographic" interpretation, are called radiologists. A board certified radiologist commands a pretty impressive fee.
http://aycu01.webshots.com/image/32200/2002002181681478728_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002002181681478728)
Radiologist dictating his radiology report
As an aside, radiology is a medical specialty that can be "outsourced." In fact, with the rise of the innerweb, an x-ray can be attached to an e-mail and sent to a radiologist in New Delhi who can "read" it and report his findings to a physician at the hospital in Durant, OK.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/31903/2002073543753664651_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002073543753664651)
Radiologist Dr. Apu Jugdish ;)
Finally, those "x-ray specs" sold on the back cover of comic books for decades which purportedly let the wearer see underneath a hawt gals dress did NOT work. It was a scam which took advantage of horned-up yet gullible adolescent males.:( :D
http://aycu28.webshots.com/image/31547/2000382042633178158_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000382042633178158)
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/32982/2002010131992016214_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002010131992016214)
Wilhelm Roentgen
112 years ago on this is day in 1895, physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (1845-1923) becomes the first person to observe X-rays, a significant scientific advancement that would ultimately benefit a variety of fields, most of all medicine, by making the invisible visible.
Roentgen's discovery occurred accidentally in his Wurzburg, Germany, lab, where he was testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass when he noticed a glow coming from a nearby chemically coated screen. He dubbed the rays that caused this glow X-rays because of their unknown nature.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/33030/2002053860780279978_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002053860780279978)
Roentgen has an element named in his honor
X-rays are electromagnetic energy waves that act similarly to light rays, but at wavelengths approximately 1,000 times shorter than those of light. Rontgen holed up in his lab and conducted a series of experiments to better understand his discovery. He learned that X-rays penetrate human flesh but not higher-density substances such as bone or lead and that they can be photographed.
http://aycu12.webshots.com/image/31611/2002020634353964885_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002020634353964885)
Roentgen's 1910 x-ray system
Roentgen's discovery was labeled a medical miracle and X-rays soon became an important diagnostic tool in medicine, allowing doctors to see inside the human body for the first time without surgery. In 1897, X-rays were first used on a military battlefield, during the Balkan War, to find bullets and broken bones inside patients.
Scientists were quick to realize the benefits of X-rays, but slower to comprehend the harmful effects of radiation. Initially, it was believed X-rays passed through flesh as harmlessly as light. However, within several years, researchers began to report cases of burns and skin damage after exposure to X-rays, and in 1904, Thomas Edison's assistant, Clarence Dally, who had worked extensively with X-rays, died of skin cancer.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/31903/2002046599088324686_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002046599088324686)
Clarence Dally
Dally's death caused some scientists to begin taking the risks of radiation more seriously, but they still weren't fully understood. During the 1930s, 40s and 50s, in fact, many American shoe stores featured shoe-fitting fluoroscopes that used to X-rays to enable customers to see the bones in their feet; it wasn't until the 1950s that this practice was determined to be risky business.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/34870/2002024685847983107_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002024685847983107)
The shoe fitting fluoroscope was a common fixture in shoe stores during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. A typical unit, like the Adrian machine shown here, consisted of a vertical wooden cabinet with an opening near the bottom into which the feet were placed. When you looked through one of the three viewing ports on the top of the cabinet (e.g., one for the child being fitted, one for the child's parent, and the third for the shoe salesman), you would see a fluorescent image of the bones of the feet and the outline of the shoes.
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/33905/2002017018073517593_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002017018073517593)
Wilhelm Roentgen received numerous accolades for his work, including the first Nobel Prize in physics n 1901, yet he remained modest and never tried to patent his discovery. Today, X-ray technology is widely used in medicine, material analysis and devices such as airport security scanners.
Of course, the technology also led to the introduction of a medical specialty. Docs who specialize in the area of interpretation of x-rays and magnetic resonance imagery (MRI), otherwise known as "radiographic" interpretation, are called radiologists. A board certified radiologist commands a pretty impressive fee.
http://aycu01.webshots.com/image/32200/2002002181681478728_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002002181681478728)
Radiologist dictating his radiology report
As an aside, radiology is a medical specialty that can be "outsourced." In fact, with the rise of the innerweb, an x-ray can be attached to an e-mail and sent to a radiologist in New Delhi who can "read" it and report his findings to a physician at the hospital in Durant, OK.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/31903/2002073543753664651_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002073543753664651)
Radiologist Dr. Apu Jugdish ;)
Finally, those "x-ray specs" sold on the back cover of comic books for decades which purportedly let the wearer see underneath a hawt gals dress did NOT work. It was a scam which took advantage of horned-up yet gullible adolescent males.:( :D
http://aycu28.webshots.com/image/31547/2000382042633178158_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000382042633178158)