Stone to Silicon

Health & biology · 1895

X-rays

Wilhelm Rontgen's new rays passed through flesh and photographed his wife's hand bones.

Discovered in Wurzburg in November 1895, X-rays were used clinically within months to find bullets and fractures. They launched medical imaging and, via crystallography, later revealed the structure of DNA and proteins.

See it in the living treeWikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

What it led to 6

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Life expectancy in the UK since 1543 Latest: 81.3 years (2023) Source: Our World in Data