Bern Dibner has written a searching biography of the German physicist, Wilhelm Röntgen, who discovered X rays in 1895 and who carried out important research in many other fields of physics. Professor Röntgen was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1901, the year the awards were first made. He discovered X rays while studying the discharge of electricity through a high vacuum. The roentgen, a unit of radiation based on the energy absorbed by air exposed to radiation, was named in honor of the famous physicist.

From the book