Evening star., 1934-05-20

NCH by inch finger by finger. scar by scar,
the daring pioneers of radiology have paid
dearly for their part in harnessing the Won-
der rays that diagnose and cure mans ails.
Theirs is an ironical fate. With their
rays they cured cancer in other men. Their
own given cancer cannot be cured by their
ray-servantS or by any other means.
Many of them are now dead Others with
q hand arm missing and life ebbing slow
ly away, Cheerfully going with much
of their work possible.
Theirs was a special daring. After the first
accident or two, they knew their danger. But
they laughed at it. Now. handleSS. armleSS,
Scared and dying they still laugh at their fate.
Even when means of protecting themselves
were found. many of the bold pioneers impa-
tient of anything that might slow them in their
life-saving work, scorned to protect themselves.
Others grew careless contemptuous of the pow
erful rays from long familiarity with them.
But Roentgen, the first of them all, the dis
coverer of the X-rayS, was different. He who
led the way to their daring dangerous work
had none of this devil-may-care spirit of the
men who followed. His was a painstaking,
careful nature. A nature which made him
keep his marvellous discovery a secret for two
mortal months while he carefully, painSaking-
ly, thoroughly studied the rays he had discov-
cred
THE discovery had been accident, but
there must be no accident and no mistake
about it when he reported it to the world of
science.
So he kept his secret told no one neither
assistants nor colleagues. not even his devoted
wife He took all his meals in his laboratory
and had couch put in the room SO he need
not go home but could stay there all night with
his wonderful secret. For eight weeks he
worked furiously the new rays
PnRTto hyy
scientists, in honor of their discoverer, but
Roentgen himself always modestly referred to
them as X-rayS. He gave them that name
when he first found them-using the mathema-
tician's symbol of the unknown, x-because he
did not know what they were.
Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen was born in
Lennep little town in the lower Rhineland
of Germany, March 27 1845. His father
German his mother Dutch, and he spent his
boyhood with his mothers relatives in Holland.
Here came the first check to his career.
A boyiSh prank played by one of his school,
mates teacher at the school of Utrecht
blamed on young Roentgen and he was
obliged to leave the school. His father
advised TO send him to a private preparatory
school to get him ready for the University of
WurZburg
He had to take examinations to enter this
private school, and by a stroke of bad luck,
the regular examiner fell i'll the day young
Roentgen took his exams. substitute eX-
aminer, called from the old school, knew all
about the affair there, and was consequently
prejudiced against the lad and failed to pass
him.
After the failure to enter the preparatory
school, he learned that students could
roll in the Zurich Polytechnical School with
out having the university requirements. So in
1865, at the age of 20, he entered in this
school student of mechanical engineering.
CARLY in his course at the Zurich school
l. Roentgen became interested in physics and
chemistry, but his studies along this line were
secondary to his engineering course and he