Discovery of X-rays and radioactivity

Date

1895–1898

Category

Science, technology & invention

Region

Europe (Germany / France)

Era

Modern

Significance

In the space of a few years a cluster of discoveries opened the study of radiation and the inner structure of the atom.

On 8 November 1895 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen at Würzburg detected a penetrating, invisible radiation he named X-rays, capable of passing through soft tissue to reveal bones on photographic plates, a finding that swiftly revolutionised medical diagnosis. Inspired by Röntgen, Henri Becquerel in March 1896 found that uranium salts spontaneously emit a penetrating radiation without any external energy source, discovering natural radioactivity. Marie and Pierre Curie then systematically investigated this phenomenon, coining the term 'radioactivity' and in 1898 isolating two new radioactive elements, polonium and radium. These discoveries revealed that atoms were neither indivisible nor immutable, that they could emit energy and transform, overturning a central assumption of classical physics. They launched nuclear physics and radiochemistry, won several Nobel Prizes, and led in time to radiotherapy, radiometric dating, and ultimately the harnessing of atomic energy.

Empires active in 1895–1898

• German Empire
  1871 CE – 1918 CE
• French Colonial Empire (Second)
  1830 CE – 1962 CE
• Empire of Japan
  1868 CE – 1947 CE
• Russian Empire
  1721 CE – 1917 CE
• British Empire
  1583 CE – 1997 CE
• Qing Dynasty
  1636 CE – 1912 CE

Related science, technology & invention events

• The Wright Brothers' Powered Flight
  17 December 1903
• Germ Theory of Disease Established by Pasteur and Koch
  1882 (Koch's tuberculosis bacillus, 24 March)
• Edison's Electric Light and Central Power
  1879 (Pearl Street 1882)
• Haber-Bosch Process Industrialises Synthetic Nitrogen Fertiliser
  September 1913
• Bell Patents the Telephone
  1876
• Opening of the Suez Canal
  17 November 1869

Also relevant

• Ronald Ross proves mosquitoes transmit malaria
  20 August 1897

Further reading

A Little History of Science

The wider story

A Little History of Science

William Bynum

Warm, jargon-free tour of discovery from Babylonian stargazers to the genome.

Get it on Amazon →

As an Amazon Associate, Human Saga earns from qualifying purchases.