November 8
X-RAY DAY
Superman could see through walls with his X-ray vision; and so could Ray Milland in his title role, X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes. He played an unstable scientist.
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (Röntgen), a scientist, but hardly unstable, took the first X-ray pictures on this day in 1895. It wasn’t his eyes he was using, but his brain. He had been experimenting with electricity but failed to turn off the machine. The device he was working with overheated and emitted rays. After a number of hours of head-scratching, writing equations and much hypothesis, Roentgen came upon the scientific principle that would allow him to take X-ray pictures. Other X-rays had been observed before this; but Roentgen was the only one to have performed repeated experiments -- proving that his machine worked.
Roentgen may have been a clever scientist; but he had no business savvy. He never patented his X-ray machine and never received any money for it.
Tell that to your dentist or doctor when you get the bill for your X-rays.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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