Wilhelm Röntgen

Hello! My name is Wilhelm Röntgen, and I was a scientist. Being a scientist is like being a detective for nature! I loved asking big questions and working in my laboratory with all my special tools and glass tubes to find the answers. I was always very curious about the world and how things worked.

One night in 1895, I was working late in my dark lab. I was doing an experiment with a special tube that had electricity running through it. Suddenly, I noticed something amazing! A little screen on a table nearby started to glow a beautiful, shimmery green. It was glowing even though nothing was touching it! I had discovered a new kind of invisible light. Because it was a mystery, I called it an 'X-ray'.

I realized my new X-rays could pass through things, like paper and wood. I wondered, could they pass through a person? I asked my wife, Anna, to put her hand in the path of the rays. I took a picture, and when we looked, we could see the bones inside her hand! We could even see the ring on her finger. It was the very first X-ray picture of a person.

My discovery helps doctors and nurses all over the world. If you ever fall down and hurt your arm, a doctor can use an X-ray machine to take a picture of your bones and see how to make you feel better. I lived to be 77 years old, and I am so happy that my glowing surprise still helps so many people today.