X-Rays First Used to Detect Cancer

The newly discovered X-ray radiograph, or Roentgen picture (named after its discoverer, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen), was used by Franz Konig, a German surgeon to picture an amputated leg which was determined to contain a sarcoma of the tibia.1 2 The X-ray quickly became a tool for visualizing and diagnosing tumors inside the body. In 1901, Röntgen won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on X-rays.

• 1Glasser, Otto. Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen: The Early History of the Rontgen Rays. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1934.
• 2Grigg, E. R. N. The Trail of the Invisible Light: From X-Strahlen to Radio(bio)logy. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1965.