In 1895, German physicist Wilhem Röntgen made a groundbreaking discovery that revolutionized medical diagnostics: the existence of X–rays.

While experimenting with cathode rays in his laboratory, Röntgen noticed that a fluorescent screen across the room began to glow, despite being shielded by thick black cardboard. He realized that the unknown rays were passing through solid objects and creating these effects. These “X–rays,” as he called them due to their mysterious nature, were capable of penetrating human tissue and casting shadows of bones and internal structures on the photographic plates.

His discovery not only earned him the first–ever Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 but also transformed medicine by allowing doctors to peer inside the human body without surgery, vastly improving diagnostic capabilities.