World's first human x-ray shows off major bling.

The very first human x-ray image was of Wilhelm Konrad von Röntgen's wife's hand and ring. And, as most everyone can tell, a pretty substantial ring at that.

Röntgen had been experimenting with X-rays for several more months and found that a sheet of paper covered with a barium platinocyanide compound would continue to luminesce even after he took the paper away. The paper would just continue to glow.

So what's the first thing a good, inventive husband does when he stumbles upon strange glowing radioactive properties? Why he asks his wife to place her hand on a photorpahic plate he's shot up with some of that barium platinocyanide stuff. And the rest, as they say, is history.



Frau Anna Berthe Röntgen had refused to put her foot down but ultimately placed her hand in the path of the xrays, creating the world’s first human X-ray picture - of her hand.. With a pretty good sized ring in the sho. Perhaps it was to remind Mr. Röntgen of what was at stake.

Röntgen's contributions to the science of X-rays and X-ray photography were so significant that in 1901, his work earned him the first Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901. There is no record of whether Mrs. Röntgen showed up for the event or not. Certainly she had a big hand in the award.