Q 01/05

Who discovered X-rays in 1895?

A) Marie Curie

B) Wilhelm Röntgen

C) Thomas Edison

D) Nikola Tesla

Answer · why

B) Wilhelm Röntgen

He was experimenting with vacuum tubes at the University of Würzburg on the evening of 8 November 1895.

Q 02/05

Why did Röntgen call his discovery 'X'-rays?

A) X marked the tenth tube he tested

B) They came from an X-shaped anode

C) X honoured his colleague Xavier

D) X was the mathematical sign for something unknown

Answer · why

D) X was the mathematical sign for something unknown

He ate and slept in his lab for weeks investigating them; many languages still call them Röntgen rays.

Q 03/05

Whose hand appears in the famous first X-ray radiograph, taken about six weeks after the discovery?

A) Röntgen's wife, Anna Bertha

B) Röntgen's own

C) His assistant's

D) Marie Curie's

Answer · why

A) Röntgen's wife, Anna Bertha

On seeing her skeleton she is said to have exclaimed 'I have seen my death!'

Q 04/05

Röntgen won which award in 1901 for discovering X-rays?

A) The first Nobel Prize in Medicine

B) The Copley Medal

C) The first Nobel Prize in Physics

D) The Fields Medal

Answer · why

C) The first Nobel Prize in Physics

Like the Curies, he refused to patent his discovery so that everyone could benefit from it.

Q 05/05

World Radiography Day is celebrated on which date?

A) 27 March

B) 10 December

C) 1 October

D) 8 November

Answer · why

D) 8 November

It marks the anniversary of the 1895 discovery; the International Society of Radiographers has celebrated it since 2007.