This bronze bust of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen can be found in The Röntgen Memorial, Würzburg. Three considerations the physicist made in connection with his discovery of x-rays in 1895 surround the sculpture. The quotations are taken from interviews, correspondence and reports where he initially shared his findings, and reflect the awe the future Nobel Prize laureate for physics (in 1901) displayed when confronted with the momentous import of his identification of penetrating radiation.
“Have you come to see the invisible rays?
Can the invisible be made visible?
Not directly with the eye, but the effects are visible.”
“How has this all come about?
Sometimes I still think I am dreaming.”
“I discovered by chance that the rays penetrated black paper.”
- Photo by Luca Borghi ti.supmacinu|ihgrob.l#| (July 2025) and page layout by Maria Sofia Sgreccia ti.supmacla|aiccergs.sm#| (November 2025)
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