Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (EPUB)

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen

This book is intended for anyone interested in the history of radiology and physics. It sheds new light on the life and career of Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, showing how his personality was shaped by his youth in the Netherlands and his studies in Switzerland, making him the man who “created a new kind of rays” has described.

The discovery of X-rays (X-rays) in the late 19th century coincided with a series of inventions. Today we can no longer imagine life without electricity, telephone or car. These were all novelties at the time. The importance of X-rays for imaging was immediately recognized; because they opened up completely new possibilities for examining the human body. This was the birth of radiology.

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923) was born in Lennep in the Bergisches Land and emigrated to the Netherlands with his family in 1848. At the age of 17 he moved to Utrecht to attend technical school. He lived with the family of Dr. Jan Willem Gunning. The very stimulating atmosphere in this family prompted him to study and not take over his father’s business. In Zurich, he obtained a degree in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnic and a year later his doctorate from the university.

With his mentor August Kundt he worked in Würzburg (1870) and Strasbourg (1872), which allowed him to marry his beloved Bertha from Switzerland. In Gießen he became a full professor of physics in 1879. In 1888 Roentgen moved to Würzburg, where he discovered X-rays in 1895. From 1901 to 1921 he taught at the University of Munich.

For his discovery he was awarded the 1st Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.