ABSTRACT

Before making his discovery of “a new kind of rays” public, W.C. Röntgen spent 6 weeks of uninterrupted work in his laboratory, meticulously experimenting on the properties of the new phenomenon he had just discovered. At the end of that 6-week period he made his first public communication at the Würzburg Physico-Medical Society (Röntgen 1895, 1896a,b) (see Section II, Chapter 17). The discovery of the new rays and their ability to make photographic images of bones inside the body was arguably the first truly global media hit by a scientific discovery. Promptly amplified by the media, the new “photography” was soon adopted by physicians and surgeons in their practice (Assmus 1995) (see Section II, Chapter 18).