Historedia
Episode 1 of 4

Discovery of X-rays

When
8 November 1895
Where
Physical Institute
Part of
Röntgen discovers X-rays at Würzburg

Röntgen discovered X-rays on 8 November 1895 while experimenting with vacuum tubes at the University of Würzburg.

On the late afternoon of 8 November 1895, Röntgen tested his ideas in his laboratory at the Physical Institute. He discovered X-rays while experimenting with Lenard and Crookes tubes. He named the phenomenon X-radiation to signify an unknown type of radiation.

Sources

  1. Wilhelm Röntgen Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-01
  2. X-ray Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-18

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.