診斷射線之父

我不只是想，我做實驗

——威廉·倫琴

I didn't think; I experimented.

——Wilhelm Roentgen

Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen was born as the only child of a merchant and manufacturer of cloth. When he was three years old， his family moved to The Netherlands， where he went to a boarding school1. He did not show any special aptitude， but showed a love of nature and was fond of roaming in the open country and forests. He was especially apt2 atmaking mechanical contrivances3， a characteristic which remained withhim also in later life. In 1862 he entered a technical school where he washowever unfairly expelled4， accused of having produced a caricature5 of one of the teachers， which was in fact done by someone else.

He then entered the University of Utrecht in 1865 to study physics. Not having attained the credentials6 required for a regular student， and hearing that he could enter the Polytechnic at Zurich by passing its examination， he passed this and began studies there as a student of mechanical engineering. He attended the lectures given by Clausius and also worked in the laboratory of Kundt. Both Kundt and Clausius exerted7 great influence on his development. In 1869 he graduated Ph. D. at the University of Zurich， was appointed assistant to Kundt and went with him to Würzburg in the same year.

In 1888， at the age of 43， Roentgen was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Wurzburg， the second most important university in Bavaria， and it was there that he made his world-startling discovery. During these years he was a popular and stimulating teacher to those pupils who were interested in his subjects but boring to those who did not care for mathematics or physics.

Roentgen's name， however， is chiefly associated with his discovery of the rays that he called X-rays. Staying in his lab around the clock， he had been experimenting with cathode rays (the offspring of negative and positive electrodes) for weeks; then one night， on November 8， 1895， around midnight， it happened; a strange luminescent8 green light appeared on a barium platinocyanide barrier on his lab table.

Roentgen played with his new rays， trying to block them with cardboard， but the invisible light rays penetrated through to the wall on the other side. Only when he used a piece of lead was he able to stop the rays. (He had unknowingly set the basis for today's lead-lined aprons worn when using x-ray machines. )

However， as Roentgen held the lead in front of the ray， he noticed than an image of his own fingers appeared on the screen. That's when he realized that his mysterious ray was actually casting an image of an inner object， his finger bones.

Weeks later， he took the next logical step and asked for his wife's assistance. He first placed a photographic plate in front of the fluorescent screen and then convinced Anna Bertha to loan her hand to his experiment. She did so， by holding her hand on the plate for a full 15 minutes， while Roentgen captured the world's first x- ray: the skeletal9 structure of his wife's hand， complete with her wedding ring.

Not knowing what to call his new penetrating ray， Roentgen named it an， \"x-ray，\" with the \"x\" standing for， \"unknown.\" Years later， this mysterious invisible light ray would be given Roentgen's own name: Roentgen Rays， although he heartily disapproved of this move.

The world's first x-ray machines were put into use， pinpointing fractured bones， in the month following Roentgen's discovery. X-rays work because body compounds like bone and tissue absorb the light rays(radiation or photons) at different rates， the greater the absorption， the lighter the image will look on film. The heavy concentration of calcium in bones， which absorbs x-rays well， causes bones to appear white in photographs， making fractures very evident. But history has taught us that this same radiation can be a curse， as well as a blessing.

The x-ray's first unwitting10 victim was an assistant to American inventor， Thomas Edison. Clarence Daily died from repeated exposure11 to radiation after testing x-rays on his own skin. The radiation burns he received on his hands proved catastrophic. Untreatable cancer ravaged his body， and finally， when amputation of his diseased arms failed to help， he succumbed to cancer in 1904. Edison immediately ceased further x-ray testing in his lab.

Nonetheless， the science community moved forward， eclipsing12 Roentgen's humble， two-dimensional x-ray apparatus with today's sophisticated， 3D imaging CAT-scan machine.

Other scientists may have sowed the seeds for the birth of the x-ray， but it was Roentgen's curiosity and dedicated efforts that put the complicated puzzle together.

Roentgen won the very first Nobel Prize for Physics， in 1901， for his contribution of the x- ray to medical science. A few decades later， on February 10， 1923， having garnered the moniker， \"Father of Diagnostic Radiology，'' Roentgen died of intestinal cancer.

威廉·倫琴生于一個布匹生產商的家庭，并且是商人的獨生子。他3歲時，全家搬至荷蘭，在那里上了寄宿學校。那時他并沒有顯現出任何特殊的天賦，但是非常熱愛自然并喜歡在空曠地區和森林漫步。他特別擅長制作機械小發明，這個性格特征在之后的生活中一直保留著。1862年他進入一個技術學校，但是卻因為被揭發畫漫畫諷刺一位老師而被不公平地開除了，實際上做這件事的另有其人。

他隨后于1865年進入烏得勒支大學學習物理。因為沒有獲得普通學生必需的證書，同時聽說通過考試就可以進入蘇黎世工業大學，他通過了考試并進入機械工程專業學習。他選擇了克勞修斯教授的課程并在孔特教授的實驗室工作。克勞修斯和孔特兩位教授都對他的發展產生了深遠的影響。1869年他從蘇黎世大學畢業獲得博士學位，被指派為孔特教授的助手，并在那年同他一起去了威爾茨堡。

1888年，43歲的威廉·倫琴被指派為威爾茨堡的數學及物理教授，那是巴伐利亞排名第二的大學，正是在那里他完成了那個舉世震驚的大發現。這些年間，對于對他的課題感興趣的學生來說，他是受歡迎且非常有激情的老師，但是對于那些對數學和物理不感興趣的學生來說他是令人討厭的。

無論如何，威廉·倫琴的名字總是最先與他發明的x射線聯系起來。他連續幾周都在對陰極射線進行實驗(正負極的產物)，晝夜不停地在實驗室工作。然后有一天夜里，1895年9月8日午夜時分，終于發生了。在實驗室桌上的涂有氯亞鉑酸鋇的屏上出現了一道奇怪的綠光。

威廉·倫琴擺弄著他的新射線，嘗試用紙板阻攔它們，但是這無形的射線穿透紙板射到了對面的墻上。只有當他用鉛塊作為屏障的時候才能擋住這種射線(他在無意間為如今使用X光射線機器時穿襯鉛的圍裙的做法打下了基礎)。

但是，因為威廉·倫琴拿著鉛塊放在射線前面，他發現自己手指的圖像顯現在屏幕上。就是在那時他意識到這種神秘的射線實際上是把里面的物體形象映射出來了，也就是他的手指骨。

幾周以后，他進行了下一步實驗并且要求他妻子的幫助。他先把一個照相的底片放在熒光屏前，然后勸說安娜·貝莎把她的手借給他做實驗。貝莎同意了，并把她的手放在底片上整整15分鐘，就這樣威廉·倫琴得到了世界上第一張X射線片:他妻子手部的骨骼結構，連同她的結婚戒指。

因為不知如何稱呼這種新的射線，威廉·倫琴把它命名為“X射線”，其中X代表未知的。多年以后，這一神秘的無形射線被冠以威廉·倫琴自己的名字:倫琴射線，即使他并不贊成這一做法。

在威廉·倫琴做出這個偉大發現后的次月，世界上第一臺X光機投入使用，用于檢查斷裂的骨骼。X射線工作的原理是身體的部件如骨骼和組織吸收這個射線(放射物或光子)的比例不同，吸收的越多，在照片上顯現的圖像就越少。骨骼中濃度極大的鈣可以很好地吸收X射線，致使在圖像中骨骼顯現出白色，使得斷裂的地方非常明顯。但是歷史也告訴我們，同樣是這個射線，既可以是病人的福音，也可以成為禍害。

X射線第一個不知情的受害者是一位美國發明家托馬斯·愛迪生的助手克拉倫斯·戴利，他因為在自己的皮膚上測試X射線而多次暴露在放射物前而導致死亡。他手上感受到的放射物灼燒證明了這一悲劇。無法醫治的癌癥折磨著他的身體，最終當他的染病手臂被切除也無法控制病情時，他于1904年癌癥不治辭世。愛迪生立即在他的實驗室停止了后續的X射線測驗。

盡管如此，科學界繼續前行，并超越了威廉·倫琴粗糙的二維的X射線儀器，取而代之的是如今靈敏的3D成像CAT掃描儀。

其他科學家可能也為X射線的誕生播下了種子，但卻是威廉·倫琴的好奇心及廢寢忘食的努力研究最終將這個復雜的謎團解開。

威廉·倫琴于1901年獲得了第一屆諾貝爾物理獎，以表彰他發現的X射線對于醫學的貢獻。幾十年以后，獲得了“診斷射線之父”稱號的威廉·倫琴于1923年2月10日因腸癌逝世。

注釋:

1. boarding school n. 寄宿學校

2. apt adj. 易于…的，有…傾向的

3. contrivance n.發明，發明才能，想出的辦法，發明物

4. expel v.驅逐，開除，排出，發射

5. caricature n.漫畫

6. credential n.證書，文憑

7. exert v.用力，盡力

8. luminescent adj. 發冷光的，發光的

9. skeletal adj. 骨骼的，骸骨的

10. unwitting adj. 不知情的，非故意的

11. exposure n. 暴露

12. eclipse v. 使……黯然失色