The Background to the Discovery of XRII

Joseph Dieudonne

Intro to Biomedical.

10/16/13

The Background to the Discovery of XRII

        The X-Ray discovery and the understanding of the electron were the first basic principles of this phenomenon. A German physicist, plucker, concluded in 1859 that the fluorescence was due to something radiating from the negative electrode, or cathode. Cathodes in the nineteenth century were closely examined. Cathode rays are emitted normally to the cathode surface and are deflected by a magnet. After various experiments and proof of Maxwell’s theories of the nature of electricity and magnetism, he found that X- rays produced where the cathode rays struck the window of this discharge tube. Many workers produced X- rays unintentionally while studying cathode rays. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen was the only one who examined these X- rays and knew that this was a whole new kind of ray. In 1865 Wilhelm attended the University of Utrecht. Later on he became a student of mechanical engineering in Zurich. While in school, Roentgen was encouraged to follow a career in physics. Augustus Kindt, a physics professor at the Polytechnic school allowed Roentgen to assist him in Zurich. They would later on move to the University of Wurzburg. After failing to obtain an academic post they would again move to the University of Strasbourg. In 1875 he became a professor of physics and mathematics at the Hohenheim Agricultural Academy in Württemberg, Germany. He returned to Strasbourg as a professor of theoretical physics. Roentgen from 18979 to 1888, he was a chairman of physics at Glessen University. Later on that year 1888 he became a professor of physics and director of the physical institute of the University of Wurzburg (Bowers ,1970).

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