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Friday, February 10, 2023

"I HAVE SEEN MY DEATH"

DISCOVERER OF X-RAY DIES IN MUNICH

Munich, Germany (JFK+50) On February 10, 1923, Wilhelm C. Rontgen*, the physicist who discovered the x-ray**, died at his home here in Munich.  Dr. Rontgen produced the first x-ray** on November 8, 1895 and won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

Dr. Rontgen did not file for a patent on the x-ray because he believed it should be made available to the public with no charge.

Rontgen's first x-ray was of his wife's left hand.  When she saw it, she exclaimed...

 "I have seen my death."

*William Conrad Roentgen (1845-1923) was born in Lennep, Prussia & earned his PhD at the University of Zurich, 1869.  WCR became a mechanical engineer & physicist.

**X-ray (X-radiation) a penetrating form of high energy electromagnetic radiation.  Dr. Roentgen used "x" to indicate unknown radiation.

SOURCE

"X-Ray Discoverer Is Dead At Munich Home," Evening Star, Washington, D.C., February 10, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/


Anna Bertha Ludwig's 
Left Hand X-Ray Photo
by Wilhelm Rontgen (1895)