Whose Discovery Was X-Rays?

German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen noticed that a fluorescent screen across the room glowed when he passed an electric current through a partially evacuated glass tube, even though the tube was shielded by black cardboard. He realised an unknown form of radiation was penetrating the cardboard and named it "X-rays" (X for unknown). Within weeks he produced the first medical X-ray image — his wife hand, showing her bones and wedding ring. The discovery revolutionised medicine by enabling non-invasive imaging. Röntgen received the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 and notably refused to patent the technology, wanting it available to all.