INVITED REVIEW - ROENTGEN AND THE DISCOVERY OF X-RAYS

This review celebrates the events of 100 years ago to the month of pub lication of this November 1995 issue of the British Journal of Radiolo gy, when X-rays were discovered by Rontgen (8 November 1895) and he wa s working in his laboratory leading up to his 28 December 1895 communi cation ''On a new kind of ray'' Biographical details of Rontgen are gi ven, together with his work in Wurzburg before the discovery and popul ar and scientific opinion in the immediate months after the world firs t learned of the existence of X-rays. Some of Rontgen's apparatus is i llustrated, accompanied by typical advertisements of 1896-1897. Where appropriate I have included information related to the UK, concerning, for example, Sir Arthur Schuster and Lord Kelvin; there is also a men tion of the Rontgen Society, the forerunner of today's British Institu te of Radiology.