Conrad Röntgen (1845 – 1923) – the Inventor of X-rays
Conrad Röntgen invented X-rays. He studied at the ETH and completed a PhD at the University of Zurich.
The German physicist Conrad Röntgen grew up in the Netherlands. He was not awarded his Abitur (school leaving qualification) for disciplinary reasons and so decided to study at the ETH university in Zurich, which made the exceptional decision to admit him without sitting the entrance exam. In 1865, he was awarded a degree in mechanical engineering and four years later completed a PhD in physics at the University of Zurich.
It was in Zurich that Röntgen met his wife Anna Bertha, daughter of the innkeeper at the Zunfthaus Zum Grünen Glas. The X-ray of Anna Bertha’s hand was seen all around the world – and in 1901 Conrad Röntgen was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing X-rays.
