X-ray is a significant invention in the field of radiology. The application of x-rays and radioactive materials is far-reaching in the area of medicine. This technology allows physicians to make accurate diagnoses based on the observation of biological systems in unthinkable ways less than a century ago.
Physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen discovered the X-Rays on November 8, 1895, at the University Of Wurzburg, Germany (Shmidt, 2015). Rontgen was forty years old then, and the discovery was made while experimenting with cathode rays to investigate an aspect of light discovered in a previous study. His experiment set-up was made up of a fluorescent screen painted with barium platinocyanide and a Crookes tube covered by black cardboard to hide its fluorescence. Rontgen suddenly observed there was a green light about a meter away. The cathode rays he discovered should not ordinarily reach the fluorescent screen. Rontgen put a piece of paper and a piece of wood between the Crookes tube and the screen, but the glow did not disappear (Schmidt, 2015). He named the new form of electromagnetic radiation X because he had no idea what it was. The physicist did not leave his laboratory for six weeks after discovering to do more research on the scientific achievement. On December 22, 1895, Rontgen produced the novel X-ray imagewith the help of his wife and submitted a research paper on his findings six days later. His research paper named was then presented to the Wurzburg Physico-Medical Society ( Columbia University Department of Surgery, n.d.). On January 4, 1896, Emil Warburg informed the Berlin Physical Society, and within the following weeks, the world was informed by telegraph.
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The new invention was received with excitement by the public, who were curious to find out the nature of the new rays. Within a year, X-rays were already being used by doctors in Europe and the United States to locate bone fractures and gunshots.The discovery had altered clinical diagnostics. Rontgen was globally recognized for his life-changing discovery and received an award barely two months after he made the discovery. He ended up receiving his first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901(Schmidt, 2015). The X-ray discovery attracted more in-depth studies, which led to other discoveries. By the time of Rontgen’s death in 1926, the concept of X-rays had significantly advanced (Shmidt, 2015). These days, X-rays are used in clinical settings and industrial settings, and at security checks. It has been applied in airports to scan luggage, verify works of art, and determine the details of archaeological objects and fossils.
However, with time several scientists discovered the negative side of X-rays. By 1897, several physicians reported that their patients were experiencing skin burns, hair loss, and developing cancerous tissues after being subjected to X-rays ( Early history of X Rays, 1995 ) . For example, Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, designed smaller and portable X-ray machines, but unfortunately, several of his technicians died from overexposure to radiation. To understand the reasons for the adverse effects, scientists tried to understand the nature of X-rays. J.J Thomson discovered that cathode rays consisted of an unknown particle ( Early history of X Rays, 1995 ) . The particle was later found to be electrons. The passage of electricity through the Crookes tube causes the cathode to emit high-velocity electrons. The negatively charged electrons are attracted to the anodes, which are positively charged. The electrons have a high velocity which makes them hit the glass wall behind the anode. When the electrons and the glass wall collide, part of the electron’s energy is transferred to the atoms in the glass that cause the production a greenish-yellow glow. It was later discovered that there are two different ways to produce X-rays. They can be produced by the collision of moving electrons from the cathode and electrons in the glass atoms. As the cathodes are travel at high velocity, they crash into the glass atom’s electrons which emission of high energy photons. X-rays are also made from the penetration of the moving cathode into the glass atom and crashing with the atom’s nucleus. Since the nucleus is denser than the electron layers bordering it, the electron is immediately slowed down once its crashes into the nucleus. The kinetic energy of the electron is transferred to the nucleus, which emits the X-rays. X-rays have a high energy which allows its penetration into solid matter.
The risks associated with X-rays were recognized after several years after the Second World War, which necessitated the restrained use of X-rays except for critical situations. In the 1930s and the 1940s, the use was widespread such that there were X-ray booths at parties for attendants to view their bones. The X-ray is ionized radiation that causes a risk of cancer in patients.
| Risks associated with X-Rays | |
| Hair loss | Bleeding |
| Skin burns | Fainting |
| Vomiting | |
With time, there has been a considerable improvement to the initial discovery to produce a broad spectrum of imaging techniques which include ( Columbia University Department of Surgery, n.d.)
ultrasound
Computed tomography (CT)
Echocardiography
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Some of these discoveries avoid the use of radiation, while others apply alternative, low radiation imaging techniques. Also, significant exposure times have been reduced to milliseconds, and the systems have been digitized. Radiology has come of age with the numerous technologies discovered after the x-ray. The discovery was inevitable, and although it has caused several losses of life, it is an asset in the medical field.
References
Columbia University Department of Surgery. (n.d.). History of medicine: Dr. Roentgen’s accidental X-rays . Columbia University Department of Surgery | Department of Surgery. Retrieved May 2, 2021, from https://columbiasurgery.org/news/2015/09/17/history-medicine-dr-roentgen-s-accidental-x-rays
Early history of X Rays . (1995). SLAC | Bold People. Visionary Science. Real Impact. https://www.slac.stanford.edu/pubs/beamline/25/2/25-2-assmus.pdf
Schmidt, F. (2015, October 6). X-ray vision: An accidental discovery that revolutionized medicine . DW.COM. Retrieved May 2, 2021, from https://www.dw.com/en/x-ray-vision-an-accidental-discovery-that-revolutionized-medicine/a-18833060
