Wilhelm Röntgen Quotes

8 Sourced Quotes

If the hand be held between the discharge-tube and the screen, the darker shadow of the bones is seen within the slightly dark shadow-image of the hand itself...For brevity's sake I shall use the expression 'rays'; and to distinguish them from others of this name I shall call them 'X-rays'

Wilhelm Röntgen
Having discovered the existence of a new kind of rays, I of course began to investigate what they would do. … It soon appeared from tests that the rays had penetrative power to a degree hitherto unknown. They penetrated paper, wood, and cloth with ease; and the thickness of the substance made no perceptible difference, within reasonable limits. … The rays passed through all the metals tested, with a facility varying, roughly speaking, with the density of the metal. These phenomena I have discussed carefully in my report to the Würzburg society, and you will find all the technical results therein stated.

Wilhelm Röntgen
We shall see what we shall see. We have the start now; the developments will follow in time.

Wilhelm Röntgen
I am not a prophet, and I am opposed to prophesying. I am pursuing my investigations, and as fast as my results are verified I shall make them public.

Wilhelm Röntgen
To my view there are two methods of research, the apparatus and the calculation. Whoever prefers the first method is an experimenter; otherwise, he is a mathematical physicist. Both of them set up theories and hypotheses...

Wilhelm Röntgen
The experiment is the most powerful and most reliable lever enabling us to extract secrets from nature... The experiment must constitute the final judgment as to whether a hypothesis should be retained or be discarded.

Wilhelm Röntgen
Physics is a science which must be proved with honest effort. One can, perhaps, present a subject in such a manner that an audience of laymen may be convinced erroneously that it has understood the lecture. This, however, means a furthering a superficial knowledge, which is worse and more dangerous than none at all.

Wilhelm Röntgen
The physicist in preparing for his work need three things, mathematics, mathematics, and mathematics.

Wilhelm Röntgen