Not a bad legacy for an accidental discovery. And while X-rays remain a cornerstone of modern medicine, their discovery paved the way for the development of today’s broad spectrum of imaging techniques, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, echocardiography, and many others - some of which avoid the use of radiation altogether. We now have a far better understanding of the risks associated with X-ray radiation and have developed protocols to greatly minimize unnecessary exposure. From there, two years later, in 1955, HDPE was produced as. In 1953 Karl Ziegler of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute and Erhard Holzkamp invented HDPE (High Density Polyethylene). A year later the first practical use for the material, as a film, was discovered. But overall, early use of X-rays was widespread and unrestrained, even to the degree that during the 1930’s and 1940’s, shoe stores offered free X-rays so that customers could see the bones in their feet. The first patents for polythene were registered in 1936 by Imperial Chemical Industries. Anything can happen to the material while cutting it. Hence, the company stopped cutting the Plexiglass for its clients. Morton, each of whom reported injuries they believed resulted from experiments with X-rays. Since Home Depot had to cover for any damaged material, it became a zero-profit business as the damages outweighed the sales. There were a few early suspicions from scientists including Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and William J. Honors for his work poured in-including the first Nobel Prize in physics in 1901.Ĭlinical use of the X-ray flourished, with little regard for potential side effects from radiation exposure. News of his discovery spread worldwide, and within a year, doctors in Europe and the United States were using X-rays to locate gun shots, bone fractures, kidney stones and swallowed objects. Roentgen quickly found that X-rays would pass through human tissue too, rendering the bones and tissue beneath visible. Because he did not know what the rays were, he called them ‘X,’ meaning ‘unknown,’ rays. Through experimentation, he found that the mysterious light would pass through most substances but leave shadows of solid objects. His cathode tube was covered in heavy black paper, so he was surprised when an incandescent green light nevertheless escaped and projected onto a nearby fluorescent screen. This uncertainty of just what Prometheus was responsible for is echoed in the uncertainty of who discovered the element promethium, number 61 in the periodic table. Wilhelm Roentgen, Professor of Physics in Wurzburg, Bavaria, discovered X-rays in 1895-accidentally-while testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass. In other legends Prometheus gave us maths and science, agriculture and medicine - or even created humans in the first place. But not so long ago, a broken bone, a tumor, or a swallowed object could not be found without cutting a person open. We barely think about it, it’s so ubiquitous. Mammography, the standard screening method for breast cancer, uses X-rays. In today’s world, doctors order X-rays to diagnose all sorts of problems: a broken bone, pneumonia, heart failure, and much, much more.
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