Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered the X-ray in Germany in 1895 as he experimented with cathode rays. He used a cathode tube and covered it with a heavy black cloth. Röntgen was astonished to find an incandescent green light projected onto a nearby fluorescent screen. He called this discovery “X” rays, due to the fact that he had no real idea what these rays were. They were an unknown phenomenon. Intent on his new discovery, he continued to experiment and eventually took a photograph of his wife’s hand, revealing her bones. Röntgen won the Nobel Prize in 1901. The early use of X-rays rapidly became widespread. It was thought to be an exciting discovery with limitless potential. In fact, in the 1930s and ’40s, shoe stores offered free X-rays of one’s feet so customers could be entertained by seeing the bones in their feet. There were only a few wise scientists …