Crookes tube
X-ray tubes evolved from experimental Crookes tubes with which X-rays were first discovered on November 8, 1895, by the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen. These first generation "cold cathode" or "Crookes" X-ray tubes were used until the 1920s. The Crookes tube was improved by William Coolidge in 1913. The Coolidge tube, also called hot cathode tube, is the most widely used. It works with a very good quality vacuum (about 10−4 Pa, or 10−6 Torr).