(Lived 1845 – 1923)
Wilhelm Röntgen was a physics professor. He received the very first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 for his discovery of X-rays.
Within two weeks of first generating X-rays he had invented X-ray photography. The first ever X-ray photograph was of the bones in his wife’s hand.
When his university, the University of Würzburg, realized how dramatically X-rays would transform the diagnosis of bone injuries and diseases, it awarded Röntgen an honorary degree in medicine.
12 scientists and their brilliant inventions 