In 1895, German physics professor Wilhelm Röntgen produced and discovered X-rays while experimenting with Lenard tubes and Crookes tubes and began studying them. In his initial report, the first paper written on X-rays, Röntgen referred to the radiation as "X", to indicate that it was an unknown type of radiation.
The name stuck, although many of his colleagues suggested calling them Röntgen rays (over his great objections). Interestingly, they are still referred to as such in many languages. In 1901, Röntgen received the first Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery.
Today, X-rays are essential in various sectors such as health care and transportation security. People even use them to detect art forgeries!
To show you just how deeply they have penetrated our lives, Bored Panda put together a list of some of the most interesting X-ray images we could find on the Internet. From an Egyptian sarcophagus to a metal arm, let's take a closer look, shall we?
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Roommate Is A Radiology Major And Today They X-Rayed Flowers. Thought You Guys Might Enjoy
X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation, similar to visible light. But X-rays have higher energy than light and can pass through most objects, including the body. Medical X-rays are used to generate images of tissues and structures inside the body. If X-rays traveling through the body also pass through an x-ray detector on the other side of the patient, an image will be formed that represents the “shadows” formed by the objects inside the body.
5-Day Progression Of Covid Pneumonia
General practitioner, medical researcher, and founder of PrimeHealth Clinical Research, Iris Gorfinkel, M.D., told Bored Panda that probably the most common X-ray of all is the chest X-ray, simply because it's often done when people are coughing, especially longer than a couple of weeks. "Other common X-rays that are fairly routine are mammography (looking for breast cancer in women) and CAT scans (we'll do CAT scans of the chest, the abdomen, and that's often to look for various cancers as well)."
X-Ray Of A Pregnant Dog
The Radiology Waiting Room In Local Hospital Has The Usual Naff Floral Decor, Except... They’re X-Rays
Even though X-rays have saved countless lives and helped in a range of important discoveries, scientists have shown concern over the health implications of getting one. "No radiation is considered particularly healthy because ionizing radiation can interfere with the way cells divide and cause normal cells to become cancerous cells," Gorfinkel explained. "But the reality of the amount of radiation with various studies is that it's actually very low, and does not tend to do that unless they are constantly repeated."
X-Ray Of A Kiwi Bird With Its Egg
X-Ray Of A Stingray
Experts estimate that 0.4 percent of cancers in the U.S. are caused by CT scans and that an average CT scan might raise the chance of fatal cancer by 1 in 2,000. However, this figure pales in comparison to the natural incidence of fatal cancer in the US of 1 in 5.
"For the most part, for the vast majority of people getting X-rays, that's not a concern," Gorfinkel said. In other words, the risks are very little compared to the benefits of medical imaging.
X-Ray Of A Hammerhead Shark
I Have A Rare Disorder Called Cleidocranial Dysotosis. Got My First Dental X-Ray Today And I Have A Lot Of Extra Teeth
An X-Ray Of An Egyptian Sarcophagus Revealed A Kitten Inside
To give you some context, the Earth is constantly bombarded by cosmic radiation, including X-rays. These rays are not harmless but they are unavoidable, and the radiation is at such low levels that its effects are virtually unnoticed. "There was always an ambient amount of radiation, in other words, just walking around on planet Earth, we have exposure," Gorfinkel said.
X-Ray Scans Of A Painting Of The Young Charles II Of Spain Reveal That The Artist Painted Over An Earlier Painting When Charles Was A Few Years Younger
Daughter Demanded Peppa Pig Get X-Ray With Her
X-Rays Of Children's' Mouths Between The Ages Of 6-12 Years Still Hold Wonder For Me, Even After Being A Dentist For 10+ Years
I dream that I'm going to lose all of my adult teeth and regrow new ones
A chest X-ray is equivalent to a just few days of the amount of natural background radiation and a mammogram is three months worth. But a CAT scan of the abdomen, for example, is worth years of natural background radiation. Gorfinkel said it's important for people to realize that CAT scans, in general, are much higher in radiation than X-rays.
Advanced Rheumatoid Arthritis
My daughter was diagnosed with RA when she was 13. She is 29 now and has had three surgeries to improve her joints to help her be able to walk. Her toes looked much like this X-ray. This is a horrible illness that is invisible until it is at this point. The pain that these patients deal with every day is heartbreaking. People still give her dirty looks when she uses a handicap parking space. Imagine if your toes looked like this...don't you think you would want to walk as little as possible?
My Wife's A Ballerina, This Is Her X-Ray While En Pointe
Scoliosis Surgery, Before And After
Can’t imagine how painful and uncomfortable it would be to suffer such significant scoliosis.
"I view them as invasive tests, even though people don't feel anything going on. Considering that a CAT scan of the chest or a CAT scan of the abdomen is equivalent to three years of natural background radiation, they should be done with careful thought—they shouldn't be just done willy nilly."
X-Ray Of A Seahorse
Pregnant Cat X-Ray
A Nice Clear X-Ray Showing My RNS Device, The Leads That Run To The Point Where My Seizures Originate
And also the brackets holding my skull together after my craniotomy (and the staples holding my scalp together).
When You Accidentally X-Ray Anubis. Dog Moved At Just The Right Time During An X-Ray
X-Ray Of A Foot In Stilettos
Well, That Sucks A Lot
Ikr? The bones shouldn’t be that sharp, since the large ones are not broken. So either something sharp was involved or really, really great force. Either way, ouch.
Load More Replies...I can't be the only one who's clutching their wrist very hard and cringing right now.
This was how my thumb dislocated when I was playing football in goal one time. This happened one year after dislocating my little finger while playing in goal. X-ray-thum...b867c0.jpg
Okay... I confess to staring at this longer than I should. Did anyone notice the radius and ulna are dislocated from the humorus as well? [Forearm dislocated from upper arm at elbow]
This reminds me of a scene from a movie we watching in school about volcanos where they go to the mines to avoid the cloud things and a Boulder falls on the characters elbow, making his bone stick out.
As a drummer this is an absolute nightmare. Will this hand ever work properly again?
ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,
If I EVER do that to myself...do not, I repeat DO NOT show me pictures. Shiver.
Ok so I got an ice pack and bandaid, should do great for this type of injury.
Now I'm curious as to what could dislocate a wrist so badly that the bones come through the skin. Car accident?
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
WTF is going on with the thumb of the person holding the pic! it's nearly as shocking!
That is the weirdest compound fracture I've ever seen! How did it get there without actually breaking?
Is this a compound double dislocation? I had a nasty car accident. I had a death-grip on the steering wheel at impact and the airbag SNAPPED my radius near my wrist and dislocated my hand from my ulna, which means my hand was no longer aligned with my arm. I could wiggle my fingers, but I had no grip what so ever. I thought my X-ray was dramatic... in comparison, my wrist was just sprained. [btw, either I have a high pain threshold or I was in shock, either way my adrenaline rush was so strong I had no pain to speak of between the time of accident and ER] I had an external fixator for 8 weeks. And many weeks of physical therapy.
I have no dea how to describe my ankle break. The closest I can is to say take your hand and place it in your palm relax and let you wrist sag (bone not attached to your hand). Now imagine it is not attached to the other bone either. Thankfully it wasn't a full on skin fracture so nothing was sticking out. 🤢
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Snake Has A Kidney Tumor. Wanted To Share His X-Ray. Wish Him Luck In Surgery
Backscatter X-Ray Identifying Contraband In A Truck. An Operator Noticed Anomalies In The Right-Side Z Backscatter View, And Flagged This Vehicle For Further Inspection
Is it just the large blocks that are the contraband? So if they had been small they would have blended in?
This Is An X-Ray Of The Device Doctors Put In My Dad's Neck, Containing Undeveloped Bone Cells And Stem Cells To Regrow Parts Of His Spine. Science
I Got A Panoramic X-Ray Of My Teeth The Other Day. The Dentist Forgot To Have Me Remove My Glasses
X-Ray Of A Flamingo
X-Ray Of A Cat With Scoliosis, Causing Her To Be Round
Girl Was Nervous The X-Ray Machine Would Hurt So I Took A Quick Shot Of Her Stuffed Fox To Show It Was Fine
Miss Correct Posture, 1956. At A Chiropractic Convention In Chicago, The Contest Winners Were Picked For The Beauty Of Their X-Rays And Their Standing Posture
X-Ray Of My Metal Arm
I Took An X-Ray Today And They Told Me That My Wisdom Teeth Are Pretty Strange
A Man In China Had A Steel Spoon Lodged In His Esophagus For A Year, But Surprisingly, The Half-Swallowed Utensil Didn’t Cause Too Much Discomfort
I Took This X-Ray On A Covid+ Patient Hours After My Friend Tried To Tell Me Covid Isn't That Bad
A Tiger's Paw
Gravid Ball Python X-Ray
I Dislocated My Jaw... While Eating Cereal
Nikola Tesla's Foot In A Shoe, By Himself. Tesla Obtained The Image In 1896 With X-Rays Generated By His Own Vacuum Tube, Similar To Lenard’s Tube, At A Distance Of 8 Feet
This Guy Had Two Nails From A Nail Gun Hit His Leg, And They Both Missed His Femur And His Kneecap
An X-Ray Of My Cat's Intestines, Kinda Looks Like Santa In A Sleigh
Pre-Flight X-Ray Image Of Neil Armstrong's Moon Boots Taken On July 7, 1969
NASA x-rayed everything the astronauts wore in order to verify that there were no sharp objects embedded in the cloth that could puncture the pressure suit
An X-Ray Of A Ghost Bat
Just Received My X-Rays From Saturday’s Debacle. They Had To Cut My Ring Off Before Returning My Bones To Their Full Upright And Locked Position
My fingers are still sore/stiff/swollen but mostly functional
Cheese!
X-Ray Of A LED Bulb From Philips
Chest X-Ray Of Attempted Suicide By Injecting Elemental Mercury (Quicksilver) Intravenously
This is an oversimplified analogy but imagine injecting stainless steel if it was liquid at room temperature. Pure mercury is still toxic but less reactive than mercury compounds. The main challenge is removing the physical mercury before it reacts or causes a physical blockage somewhere.
I Love How Sinister These Cute, Innocent Dolls Look Under X-Ray. It Shows Their True Colours
This peek-a-boo doll shrieks that over and over again even with just one squeeze. It also covers its eyes. If only it would cover my ears
X-Ray Of A Plant As A Decoration At My Local Hospital
Ineffective Gold Thread Acupuncture Treatment For Osteoarthritis Of The Left Knee
Wait... Those squigly lines are gold threads? Can somebody please explain?
My Son Got Shot In The Face By A BB Gun Two Years Ago (Accidentally). Found The BB Today
My stepdad had a BB in his forehead from when he was a kid. He could move it around under the skin.
X-Ray Techs Were Amazed At My Cervical Spine Imaging Given Extreme Hyper Mobility
Note: this post originally had 156 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
one time, in 5th grade, i dislocated my pinky while playing ball. i don't wanna say it was sideways but....how do i put this. so there are 3 bones in your pinky, right? imagine the top 2 bones NEXT to the bottom 3rd bone. yeah so imagine that. freaky right? but the strange thing is, that it didn't even hurt. i felt totally normal. it only hurts when i pull it or try to move it. i went to the ER and they straight up put a needle in my pinky. 2, actually. it became numb, and they popped it back it place. and it was the most satisfying sound ever. it also swelled and i had to wait 6 weeks for it to go back to normal. and thru the whole thing, i didn't even cry. THE END
About half of these fascinated me. The other half filled me with a deep sense of existential dread.
About 10 years I had foot surgery to remove a neuroma and file down a bunionette. It took forever to heal and I thought it was strange since I'm a fast healer. A few month ago I broke my pinky toe. When they took the xrays I found out that instead of filing down the bunionette, the doctor had just cut off the entire end of the bone. It certainly explains why it took so long to heal.
Wow! Was it malpractice, or was it just that he had to alter the procedure for good reasons, but neglected to tell you?
Load More Replies...one time, in 5th grade, i dislocated my pinky while playing ball. i don't wanna say it was sideways but....how do i put this. so there are 3 bones in your pinky, right? imagine the top 2 bones NEXT to the bottom 3rd bone. yeah so imagine that. freaky right? but the strange thing is, that it didn't even hurt. i felt totally normal. it only hurts when i pull it or try to move it. i went to the ER and they straight up put a needle in my pinky. 2, actually. it became numb, and they popped it back it place. and it was the most satisfying sound ever. it also swelled and i had to wait 6 weeks for it to go back to normal. and thru the whole thing, i didn't even cry. THE END
About half of these fascinated me. The other half filled me with a deep sense of existential dread.
About 10 years I had foot surgery to remove a neuroma and file down a bunionette. It took forever to heal and I thought it was strange since I'm a fast healer. A few month ago I broke my pinky toe. When they took the xrays I found out that instead of filing down the bunionette, the doctor had just cut off the entire end of the bone. It certainly explains why it took so long to heal.
Wow! Was it malpractice, or was it just that he had to alter the procedure for good reasons, but neglected to tell you?
Load More Replies...