It was a crisp autumn night in November and as usual Professor Wilhelm Rontgen was working alone in his laboratory. Twice the servant had reminded him to go upstairs for supper but he was so engrossed in what he was doing that he forgot his hunger. Eventually his wife decided to bring his meal to him.
When she entered the laboratory, she was asked to place her hand on a photographic plate. Wilhelm told her that he wanted to take a picture of her hand. Then he switched off the lights and the laboratory was pitch dark. Wilhelm turned on a switch and asked his wife to keep still. After a while, he lifted her hand and rushed to develop the photograph. When he showed it to her, she was astounded. What she saw was bones, not her hand as it appeared to her.
In an excited voice, Wilhelm told his wife that he had discovered invisible rays that could penetrate flesh and reveal bones. In addition, the rays, which Wilhelm aptly named X-rays since he did not know what they were, could also allow people to see the contents of sealed wooden boxes. Later Wilhelm shared his discovery with other scientists. Although he was advised to take out a patent on his discovery, Wilhelm flatly refused to do so. He was more eager to find uses for X-rays than to become a wealthy man.
Wilhelm became famous when news of his wonderful discovery spread. Doctors were the first group of people who found immediate uses for X-rays. Now they could see the broken bones clearly and had no problem locating bullets in their patients' bodies. In 1901, Wilhelm was presented with the first Nobel Prize in Physics.