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Early History of the Roentgen Rays 

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was a German physicist, who, on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range today known as X-rays or Röntgen rays, an achievement that earned him the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (27 March 1845 – 10 February 1923)

In 1865 : Roentgen tried to attend the University of Utrecht without having the necessary credentials required for a regular student. Upon hearing that he could enter the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich (today known as the ETH Zurich), he passed its examinations, and began studies there as a student of mechanical engineering.

In 1869 : Roentgen graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich;

In 1873 : Roentgen became a favorite student of Professor August Kundt, whom he followed to the University of Strassburg.

In 1874 : Röntgen became a lecturer at the University of Strassburg.

In 1875 : He became a professor at the Academy of Agriculture at Hohenheim, Württemberg.

In 1876 : He returned to Strassburg as a professor of physics.

In 1879 : he was appointed to the chair of physics at the University of Giessen

In 1888 : He obtained the physics chair at the University of Würzburg.

In 1900 : At the University of Munich, by special request of the Bavarian government.

During 1895 : Röntgen was investigating the external effects from the various types of vacuum tube equipment — apparatuses from Heinrich Hertz, Johann Hittorf, William Crookes, Nikola Tesla and Philipp von Lenard — when an electrical discharge is passed through them.

Röntgen's original paper, "On A New Kind Of Rays" (Über eine neue Art von Strahlen), was published on 28 December 1895. On 5 January 1896, an Austrian newspaper reported Röntgen's discovery of a new type of radiation. Röntgen was awarded an honorary Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Würzburg after his discovery. He published a total of three papers on X-rays between 1895 and 1897. Today, Röntgen is considered the father of diagnostic radiology, the medical specialty which uses imaging to diagnose disease.

Honours and awards

In 1901 Röntgen was awarded the very first Nobel Prize in Physics. The award was officially "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him". Röntgen donated the monetary reward from his Nobel Prize to his university. Like Pierre Curie, Röntgen refused to take out patents related to his discovery, as he wanted mankind as a whole to benefit from practical applications of the same (personal statement). He did not even want the rays to be named after him.

•     Rumford Medal (1896)
•     Matteucci Medal (1896)
•     Elliott Cresson Medal (1897)
•     Nobel Prize for Physics (1901)

In November 2004 IUPAC named element number 111 Roentgenium (Rg) in his honour. IUPAP also adopted the name in November 2011.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org