W c roentgen biography of albert einstein

Scientists are not always as scientific as many suppose. Recent well-publicized cases of scientific fraud prove that scientists can be as susceptible to the allures of wealth, power and fame as politicians, the group that enjoys the lowest public trust. Glaring recent cases have included falsified results in the development of an HIV vaccine and new techniques for producing stem cells.

Such breaches prove that scientists do not always base their work strictly on rigorous experimentation, data collection and analysis, and hypothesis testing. In fact, scientists frequently disagree with one another, both as individuals and as representatives of competing schools of thought. Some of these debates rage on for years. Superstring theory, sometimes called the “theory of everything,” has been a topic of vigorous contention for over 30 years.

In some cases, personalities, prejudices and petty jealousies enter the picture. Consider, for example, one of the great disputes of 20th-century

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[Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen and the discovery of X-rays]

W.C. Röntgen reported the discovery of X-rays in December 1895 after seven weeks of assiduous work during which he had studied the properties of this new type of radiation able to go through screens of notable thickness. He named them X-rays to underline the fact that their nature was unknown. The news of this discovery immediately aroused an immense interest in the public and also initiated intense research in several directions. Physicians and physicists began as early as January 1896 to use X-rays on patients to investigate the skeleton and subsequently the lung and other organs. This was the birth or radiology. Rapidly they observed skin erythema, which led to the idea of using X-rays against a variety of lesions. In June 1896 the first patient was treated by radiotherapy. J.J. Thomson (Cambridge, U.K.) showed that X-rays were able to ionize gaz and the study of this phenomenon led to the discovery of electrons in 1897. In

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Physics History Network

Dates

March 27, 1845 – February 10, 1923

Authorized Form of Name

Röntgen, Wilhelm Conrad, 1845-1923

Additional Forms of Names

Rentgen, Vilʹgelʹm Konrad, 1845-1923

Roentgen, Wilhelm, 1845-1923

Röntgen, W. C. (Wilhelm Conrad), 1945-1923

Röntgen, Wilhelm, 1845-1932

Abstract

Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen was awarded the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physics "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him."

Important Dates

March 27, 1845Birth, Lennep, Prussia, Remscheid (Germany).

1869Obtained Doctorate in Physics without prior credentials, University of Zurich (Universität Zürich), Zurich (Switzerland).

1874Lecturer, University of Strasbourg (Université de Strasbourg), Strasbourg (France).

1875Professor, Academy of Agriculture, University of Hohenheim (Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule Hohenheim. Institut für Physik und Meteorologie), Württemberg (Germany).

1876Prof