Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen , Röntgen also spelled Roentgen , (born March 27, 1845, Lennep, Prussia —died February 10, 1923, Munich, Germany), physicist who was a recipient of the first Nobel Prize for Physics, in 1901, for his discovery of X-rays, which heralded the age of modern physics . Roentgen , , discovered X - rays in 1895—accidentally—while testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass. ... Because he did not know what the rays were, he called them ' X ,' meaning 'unknown,' rays . When Röntgen held a piece of lead in front of the electron-discharge tube, it blocked the rays , but he was shocked to see his own flesh glowing around his bones on the fluorescent screen behind his hand. He then placed photographic film between his hand and the screen and captured the world's first X - ray image. Röntgen , on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays or Röntgen rays, an a...