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The discovery of X rays was done by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in 1895, noting that when he passed an electric current through a vacuum tube was induced brightness of a fluorescent screen. The brightness of the screen disappear when the current was interrupted. He attributed this effect to a type of radiation which, being hitherto unknown, called X-ray We now know that it is a form of electromagnetic radiation, similar in nature to that of visible light or radio waves.

X-rays have high energy and short wavelength which makes them able to penetrate tissues. When passing through the body, denser tissues such as bones, block the rays more strongly than less dense tissues such as the lungs.To record the X-ray images (radiographs) uses a special type of film. X-rays are converted into light and the more energy reaches the film will produce a greater darkening of the same. For this reason, the bones, leaving less energy to pass, will be whiter than the lungs, allowing a major step of the rays. However, in the first X-ray images were obtained, as the hand of Röntgen’s wife, the bones were observed in reverse, that is darker than the rest of the tissues. It should also be aware that not all the radiation that enters the body it comes out cleanly. When X-rays through the body is a part of the energy that remains in the tissues and therefore may cause biological effects to this type of radiation.

After two months of their discovery, X rays were used in Europe and North America, not only to take pictures of internal organs of living people, but also to treat a wide variety of diseases. The equipment used to take X-rays (radiology) produce X-rays with an energy of about 120,000 electron volts, while those used for cancer treatment (radiotherapy) are much more powerful, with a power output of 2 to 20 million electron volts.