Wilhelm Röntgen is most celebrated for his discovery of X-rays, which he made in 1895 when he was the Professor of Physics in Würzburg, central Germany. He had previously established himself as one the world's leading experimenters, having provided evidence that supported James Clerk Maxwell's unified theory of electricity and magnetism and having pursued fruitful investigations into the behaviour of solids, liquids and gases. He preferred to work alone in his laboratory, working extremely carefully and systematically, seeking to check previously established results before venturing into new territory. His discovery of X-rays epitomized the success of this method. On the evening of 8 November 1895, he was experimenting with cathode rays (later identified by others as electrons) when he noticed phenomena that he knew could not have been caused by these rays. Subsequently, he verified that he had observed a new kind of ray, which he called X-rays, that had many extraordinary properties, notably their ability to penetrate solid objects. In 1896, the announcement in the world's press of this discovery and of its striking photographic applications caused a sensation and made Röntgen world famous. He won the first Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901 for this work.
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