Starting in 1951, the 50th anniversary of the award of the first Nobel Prize for physics to Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, the Lord Mayor of the German City of Remscheid has given out Röntgen Medals. The Röntgen Medal annually honours scientists who "in the broadest sense have made a special contribution to the progress and dissemination of X-ray discoveries in the theoretical and applied sciences". The Röntgen Medal has become highly recognized in the scientific world. To date, more than one hundred excellent scientists have received the honour. Through their chronology, this contribution presents a "Who’s Who" of X-ray science and provides selected insights into their scientific work; with the fields of X-ray optics and X-ray astronomy receiving special focus.
In 1895, Professor Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen detected a new type of radiation that was able to penetrate solid materials, which he called X-rays. In 1901 Röntgen received the first Nobel Prize in physics in honour of this ground breaking discovery. The Deutsches Röntgen-Museum (DRM) in Remscheid (Germany) is the institution that uniquely and comprehensively explores and documents the life and work of W. C. Röntgen and the impact of his discovery. The DRM’s location in Remscheid is not coincidental, with Röntgen’s birthplace only a short walk away from the exhibits. Every visit to the museum amounts to a unique expedition through the worlds of medicine, science and technology. The museum’s emphasis on the diversity of Röntgen’s invention by a multilingual, multi-medial approach enables all visitors to make their own personal discoveries. The Deutsches Röntgen-Museum in Remscheid is a must-see for X-ray scientists from anywhere in the world. This contribution provides an insight into the history of X-rays and offers a guided tour of the Deutsches Röntgen-Museum and its exhibits.
On November 8th, 1895, Professor Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was still working late on cathode rays in his laboratory at the University of Würzburg in Germany. By chance, he found a new type of radiation that was able to penetrate materials. He himself called them X-rays. In his honour, in Germany we call this type of radiation Röntgen´s rays since 1896. In 2020, Germany was celebrating the Röntgen anniversary year, recognizing the discovery of X-rays 125 years ago and the 175th birthday of its discoverer Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, the first Nobel laureate in physics. Financed by a grant from the Klaus Tschira Foundation, the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museums in Mannheim and the German Röntgen Museum in Remscheid developed an “X-periments mobile” with interactive experiments for children and young people. Following the given motto "X-periments - making the invisible visible", this research station with optical experiments started traveling across Germany in the anniversary year and, due to the corona pandemic in the following year. In summer 2021, the “X-periments mobile” will make a guest appearance at Aschaffenburg University. The experimental set-ups enable school classes and students to gain an overview of optical technologies from infrared light to ultraviolet radiation to X-rays and gamma rays. The aim of the campaign is to inspire the young generation and to attract students for courses in science and technology. This contribution presents the historical discovery of X-rays, the “X-periments mobile” and its experiments, its intention, and the experiences from its stays at different places across Germany.
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