8 November World Radiology Day is the anniversary of the discovery of X-rays in 1895. The aim of this day is to raise public awareness about radiographic imaging and treatment, which plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. It is to ensure that radiation is kept at the minimum level required, thus improving the quality of patient care. The International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists (ISRRT) has started to celebrate 8 November as World Radiology Day since 2007.
X Ray Discovery (X-Ray)
In the mid-1890s, the German physicist Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Conrad, like many other researchers, was investigating the phenomenon of luminescence in cathode ray tubes. He worked with an experimental apparatus consisting of two electrodes (anode and cathode) placed in a hollow glass tube called a "Crookes tube".
At a distance of 2 metres from the test tube, he noticed a flash on the paper wrapped in barium platinocyanite. He repeated the experiment and observed the same phenomenon each time. He identified this as a new ray that could pass through the matte surface and named it the "X Ray", using the letter X, which symbolises the unknown in algebra. Later, these rays came to be known as "Rontgen Rays".
After this discovery, Röntgen observed that materials of different thicknesses transmit rays with different intensities. He used a photographic material to understand this. It was during these experiments that he made the first medical X-ray radiography (Röntgen film) in history and officially announced this important discovery on 28 December 1895.
Dr Esad Feyzi Bey was the first person to apply X-ray applications in the Ottoman Empire for the first time in our country.
Although x-rays are now the basis of medical imaging methods, ultrasound using sound waves and magnetic resonance imaging with magnetic fields have also developed.
