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...