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Natural color X-ray photogram of a wine scene. Note the edges of hollow cylinders as compared to the solid candle. William Coolidge explains medical imaging and X-rays.. An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays.
Unprotected experiments in the U.S. in 1896 with an early X-ray tube (Crookes tube), when the dangers of radiation were largely unknown.[1]The history of radiation protection begins at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries with the realization that ionizing radiation from natural and artificial sources can have harmful effects on living organisms.
Taking an X-ray image with early Crookes tube apparatus, late 1800s. Radiography's origins and fluoroscopy's origins can both be traced to 8 November 1895, when German physics professor Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered the X-ray and noted that, while it could pass through human tissue, it could not pass through bone or metal. [1]
The soft tissue in the human body is composed of smaller atoms than the calcium atoms that make up bone, so there is a contrast in the absorption of X-rays. X-ray machines are specifically designed to take advantage of the absorption difference between bone and soft tissue, allowing physicians to examine structure in the human body.
From initial therapeutic experiments, a new field of x-ray therapy was born, referred to as röntgenotherapy after Wilhelm Röntgen, the discoverer of x-rays. It was still unclear how the x-rays acted on the skin; however, it was generally agreed upon that the area affected was killed and either discharged or absorbed. [17]
Thomson deliberately exposed a finger to an X-ray tube over a period of time and suffered pain, swelling, and blistering. [16] Other effects, including ultraviolet rays and ozone, were sometimes blamed for the damage, [17] and many physicians still claimed that there were no effects from X-ray exposure at all. [16]
Pages in category "History of X-rays" The following 2 pages are in this category, out of 2 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. H. History of X-ray ...
By 1901, Roentgen had been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his discovery. Immediately after its release, X-ray machines were being manufactured and used worldwide in medicine. [5] The brain is almost entirely composed of soft tissue that is not radio-opaque, meaning it remains essentially invisible to ordinary or plain X-ray examinations.