Let’s look back and let’s go 1895. A middle -class Prussian rose with the singing of the rooster. … Socialists, the terrible uncertainty of whether the Kaiser Guillermo II would put a ridiculous helmet today and, of course, the constant anguish of whether one was “Prussian.”
While this was happening a Prussian physicist named Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923) was locked in his laboratory investigating cathode rays, electrons flows in vacuum tubes, something quite common in the physics experiments of the time.
Röntgen covered the tube with black cardboard to block the visible light emitted during the experiment. Despite the cardboard deck, he observed that a nearby screen covered with Bario Platinocyanide emitted mysterious fluorescence. This phenomenon was inexplicable, since the visible light of the tube was blocked. Röntgen realized that there should be some type of invisible radiation that was penetrating the cardboard and causing fluorescence. This unknown radiation baptized her as “X -rays.”
The first radiography in history
What followed was a scientific marathon of forty -nine days. Röntgen practically moved to his laboratory, eating and sleeping there. They even say he did not tell anyone about his discovery for weeks.
The “Eureka” moment came when Röntgen convinced his wife Bertha to place his hand on a photographic plaque while he exposed it to these mysterious rays. When he revealed the image, there were the bones by Bertha and his marriage ring, clearly visible, as if the meat were transparent.
Although Röntgen could have patented his discovery and become immensely rich, he decided not to do it because he believed that “discoveries belong to humanity.”
A noble gesture, without a doubt, although its counters probably cried at night.
The news of Röntgen’s discovery spread like gunpowder. Suddenly, people could see their own bones, as if they were ghosts. The popular imagination shot, and the X -rays became a kind of passenger fashion, a scientific toy for the Victorian era. Among the first uses given to the discovery was to measure the feet for shoes in stores until producing “memory radiographs” at the fairs.
Empress’s radiography
Fortunately, doctors soon recognized the potential of X -rays for diagnosis. Fractures, lung diseases and foreign bodies could be seen with unprecedented clarity. Some doctors, in their enthusiasm, began using X -rays to treat a wide range of ailments, from acne to tuberculosis. Radiation was considered a kind of panacea, a remedy for all evils.
One of the first and most curious cases was that of Princess Isabel de Baviera, also known as Sisi, the Empress of Austria. In 189, Sisi suffered a fall during a trip and it was suspected that a rib could have fractured. As it was a prominent public figure, the news of his injury caused a stir throughout Europe.
The doctors of the Court, anxious to use the latest medical technology, decided to perform an x -ray of the princess. Imagine the scene: the Empress, famous for her beauty and her slender figure, posing behind a lead screen while a nervous technician adjusts the controls of the X -ray machine.
The radiography revealed that, fortunately, Sisi had no fracture. However, the image of its ribs and its spine caused sensation in the press. The newspapers published detailed articles on the radiography of the Empress, enthusiastically describing the “wonder of science” that allowed to see the interior of the human body.
The dark side of radiation
The side effects of radiation were soon evident: burns, hair loss and, in extreme cases, cancer, began to appear in those that were exposed to excessive doses.
The first to suffer the consequences were, as is usually the case, the pioneers. Radiologists, technicians and scientists who worked with the new technology did it without any protection, exposing themselves to mass doses of radiation. Among those affected was its discoverer. Wilhelm Röntgen died in 1923 as a result of an intestinal carcinoma, possibly related to radiation exposure. Which teaches us that even the brightest discoveries can have their shadows.
#rays #shoe #souvenir #fair
