#28: The Invention of the X-Ray

The X-ray was discovered by Wilhelm Röntgen in 1895 and changed the world of medicine forever. The discovery of the X-ray is pretty well-known, but not many people realize that Röntgen couldn’t have discovered the X-ray without another, earlier invention. We’d like to introduce you to the Crookes tube.

The Crookes tube was an experimental electrical discharge tube with a partial vacuum. It was invented by physicist William Crookes around the late 1860s and early 1870s. Before Röntgen experimented like in the photo above, X-rays were just unidentified radiation that came off of Crookes tubes. Teamwork makes the invention dream work.