This x-ray image depicts the hand of an adult—presumably a resident of Maine. In 1896, when this image was made, most people, including doctors, had never even heard of an x-ray.

Wilhelm Conrad Röentgen made the first x-ray in November 1895, a few months before this image was made. Can you guess the first thing Röentgen x-rayed?  What’s your best guess?  I’ll tell you the answer a little later.

Can you imagine what people thought the first time they saw an X-ray?  Even today, we’re all familiar with them, but seeing an image like that of your own body gives you a strange feeling.  But it would be a much stranger thing to behold if you didn’t know it was possible to photograph your bones while you’re alive. P

So what did Röentgen x-ray first?  His wife’s hand! It was partially thanks to this X-ray of her hand, “Hand mit Ringen,” that helped Röentgen win the first Nobel prize in physics in 1901. The large dark blotch is her wedding ring.

Roentgen did eventually get around to x-raying other things like frogs and spiders, but it was his picture of his wife’s hand that caused everyone to sit up and take note of the possibilities.

Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, 1895: