A Half Century of Roentgen Rays in Industry

Abstract

Through fifty years the principal applications of roentgen rays have been to the saving of life and to the pursuits of the peaceful activities of men. It is singularly appropriate, therefore, that the deeply sincere and expressed hope that the semicentennial commemoration of Röntgen's discovery might be observed in humble gratitude by a world at peace has been apparently realized. Along with medical, biological, chemical, and physical sciences, engineering and industry owe an incalculable debt to the discoverer, the centennial of whose birth coincides with the semicentennial of the discovery of the rays which bear his name. It is still too early to evaluate the contribution made by roentgen-ray testing and research to the war effort, since much confidential information has not yet been released, but it is safe to say that an undreamed of peak in industrial application was reached. Undoubtedly roentgen-ray methods have played an essential part in the development of the amazing atomic bomb. On the other hand, much valuable information has been gained to aid in the search for the molecular structure and synthesis of life-saving penicillin, DDT, sulfa drugs, and many other compounds. Bomber and fighter plane motors were doubled in horsepower for the same weight of light alloy castings because roentgenray testing and research led to soundness of gross structure and freedom from strain in fine structure. Welded Liberty ships no longer broke in two after roentgen rays were applied to a serious problem of failure. So the wartime story goes—artillery, armor-piercing shells, ballistics from roentgen-ray exposure of a millionth of a second, delicate instruments, storage and dry batteries, synthetic rubber, carbon black, lubricants and waxes, catalysts, chemicals, electron tubes, quartz crystal oscillators for control of radiofrequencies, and innumerable other applications. How much could Röntgen have foreseen of the practical engineering and industrial uses of the rays which he designated X, at the time of his discovery and at the time of his death? Just as he prophetically warned a complacent world against Adolph Hitler ten years before his rise to dictatorship, so perhaps within his soul the modest physicist of Würzburg could see the march of science and say: “Mine eyes have seen the glory.” The jealousies and disappointments which embittered his later years pass away and are forgotten. A half century later he stands in the clear light of fame and acclaim by a grateful world. For roentgen rays are truly one type of light, and light is life. Classification of Applications The industrial applications of roentgen rays fall mainly into three classes just as medical uses do. The first of these is radiography, including fluoroscopy—a diagnostic procedure; this also includes the newly developed technic of microradiography.