The discovery of x-rays
Year awarded: 1901
Year of discovery: 1895
Wilhelm Röntgen 1845 – 1923
Wilhelm Röntgen was a German mechanical engineer and physicist (I hope so)
Old Willie here needed a catchy name for his discovery. Since ‘X’ is the universal scientific term for unknown, he picked this until he was sure of his discovery. I guess that it stuck. The very first human x-ray was of his wife’s hand. It only took a very short time (1896 in fact) when researchers started to realize the health dangers associated with this discovery.
Röntgen refused to take out patents. He donated his Nobel prize money. He died in bankruptcy, of colorectal cancer.
Impact of discovery:
Well this one is pretty obvious I suppose. Pretty much was a revolution in modern medicine. Virtually all of us have been x-rayed at some point in time. It’s saved my bacon a few times for sure. And although medical uses are probably the most known, x-rays are used in manufacturing, security, and astronomy. At one point in time even in shoe sales; although this practice has been banned.
Röntgen Peak in Antarctica is named after him. 64° 2′ 0″ S, 62° 17′ 0″ W (no data on elevation)
Element 111 Roentgenium was also named after him. (One of these fancy newfangled manufactured elements) The most stable known roentgenium isotope, 282Rg, is also the heaviest; it has a half-life of 100 seconds.