Brief biography of William X -ray

What he himself, by the way, did not want to. X-rays, as he called them, made a coup, primarily in medicine, making diagnostics at a completely new level. Doctors no longer had to, as before, almost at random to recognize fractures or - at an early stage - diseases of the internal organs, including, for example, the most dangerous pulmonary tuberculosis. Professor of many universities and even the rector of one of them, X -ray did not graduate from school.

The Nobel Prize in Physics, by the way, the first laureate in this area, who received it for X-ray radiation, he protested against this radiation to be called by name and wrote about X-rays. Awarded many awards, including the one that the noble title, the prefix "von" to the surname and the right to be called "his Excellency" gave him, he refused this title. Lazy and indistinguishable?

Wilhelm Conrad X -ray was born in a small German town, in essence, in the village, which today is part of the city of Remshaid, in a wealthy family. His father owned a weaving factory. When the boy was three years old, the family moved to Holland, from where the mother of Wilhelm was from. There he went to school in the city of Utrecht. Further confirms the fairly common legend that many future geniuses, for example, Einstein studied very poorly at school.

True, confirms only partly. The X -ray studied was not at all bad at all, but the teachers were unhappy with his insufficient diligence and even, as they thought, with laziness. And then there was a scandal. He found a rather evil caricature for one of the teachers. The X -ray considered the author of this caricature, which he was not, but he did not name the name of the real author.

As a result, he was kicked out of school - for a gross violation of discipline. Without a certificate and without exams without a certificate of maturity, and even with such a “wolf ticket”, X -ray could not enter the university. The only thing he was allowed is to attend lectures on the rights of a freedom. And where did his notorious laziness go! He regularly went to lectures on biology, physics, mathematics, classical languages ​​- ancient Greek and Latin.

And not just walked! A year later, Wilhelm X -ray accidentally found out that in Switzerland a document on graduation for entering a university is not required - you just need to go through an interview and pass the entrance exams. An interview at the Polytechnic Institute of Zurich was conducted by the rector himself. He was so amazed at the knowledge of the applicant that he accepted him at all without entrance exams.

And three years later, X -ray graduated from Polytech, brilliantly passing the exams, and received a diploma of the engineer. He was 24 years old. The House-Museum of the X-ray in Würzburg. He took a promising young scientist assistant. The X -ray went with him first to Würzburg, then to Strasbourg, defended his doctoral dissertation, later he himself became the director of the Institute of Experimental Physics at the University of Gisen, he married Berta - his girlfriend from his student years.

They had no children, and they adopted Berta's niece, the daughter of her widowed brother. The discovery belonging to Gisen and later in Würzburg, where X -ray first headed the Department of Physics, and then as a rector and university, the scientist strengthened his high scientific reputation - long before he opened X -ray radiation and received the Nobel Prize. Confirmation of this, in particular, is numerous invitations to different universities that X -ray rejected.

He was invited to the irony of his fate, among others, and at the University of Utrecht - the one where he was not taken at one time due to the lack of a certificate of graduation. A lot has been written about how Wilhelm Conrad X -ray opened X -ray radiation, and it makes no sense to retell it here. We only note that the discovery is contrary to what the widespread legend says not at all by chance.

And we repeat what is very important for understanding his character and worldview: X -ray was against the fact that he was called the radiation called him in the name. Just a year after the opening, X -ray radiation won the world. X -ray did not want his discovery to be a source of income - neither for him or for these companies. When he was awarded the Nobel Prize, X -ray politely thanked, accepted the Nobel medal from the king of Sweden, but he refused to make speech, as all the laureates do.

He also refused the prefix "von" to his surname and to call him "Your Excellency" when he received the right to do so. He was a modest, silent, favorite entertainment of X -ray were distant walks and hunting.

He died of cancer at the age of 77 and was buried in Gisen next to his parents and his wife. See also:.