--- ---  # See Incredible Vintage Photos of People Getting X-Rays  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 5, 2016 12:00 PM UTC  A woman having her head x-rayed with the new shock-proof apparatus at the London Medical Exhibition, Royal Horticultural Hall. The apparatus, which is designed for the consulting room, is simple to use as it can be plugged in to any domestic lighting point'. 1934. A woman having her head x-rayed with the new shock-proof apparatus at the London Medical Exhibition, Royal Horticultural Hall. The apparatus, which is designed for the consulting room, is simple to use as it can be plugged in to any domestic lighting point'. 1934.SSPL—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 5, 2016 12:00 PM UTC  X-ray photograph taken by Wilhelm Roentgen of his wife's hand in December 1895. SSPL—Getty Images The way the [story](http://time.com/vault/issue/1948-12-20/page/71/) goes, one of the earliest X-ray photographs ever taken (at left here) was not made for particularly scientific purposes. As TIME later reported, Wilhelm Roentgen, the scientist who devised the process, took a picture of his wife’s hand “to make her appreciate the work he was doing and forgive him for having slighted her cooking.” It was on this day 120 years ago—Jan. 5, 1896—that an Austrian newspaper first reported Roentgen’s discovery. In the decades that followed, many more images would follow Roentgen’s wife’s hand. Some of that photography was for [scientific reasons](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,862407,00.html), and some [not so much](http://time.com/vault/issue/1934-07-30/page/44/). In the early days, X-Ray technicians would often [burn themselves](http://time.com/vault/issue/1965-10-22/page/121/) or [suffer from overdoses](http://time.com/vault/issue/1925-04-13/page/15/) of radiation.”X–rays are literally death rays,” TIME [declared](http://time.com/vault/issue/1941-10-20/page/74/) in 1941\. “A man exposed to strong enough rays for a few minutes would die within a few months. A few seconds’ exposure could cause temporary and possibly permanent sexual sterility, as well as severe blood changes. These and other effects can be cumulative, picked up fatally second by second through several years.” Despite the danger, however, the judicious use of X-rays allowed great medical progress in diagnosis and treatment alike—not to mention numerous non-medical uses. Here are 15 vintage images of X-rays at work over the decades.  A man receiving an x-ray in Austria, circa 1910. Imagno—Getty Images  A chest X-ray in progress at Professor Menard's radiology department at the Cochin hospital, Paris, 1914. Jacques Boyer/Roger Viollet—Getty Images  One of the advanced wonders at the Roentgen Institute, the modern Roentgen 'look through' machine, which prevents any injury to the treating physician, Frankfurt, Germany, circa 1929. Underwood Archives—Getty Images  A man and a woman demonstrating medical equipment at a X-ray exhibition, beside a sign reading 'The Metalix Tube for Therapy,' 1928. Puttnam—Getty Images  Filmstar Judith Allen with the radiograph of her back, circa 1930. Imagno—Getty Images  An x-ray demonstration with the latest x-ray apparatus. London. 1932. Imagno—Getty Images  The latest X-ray apparatus being operated by an radiologist wearing the old-type protectors which are no longer necessary with modern apparatus. Radiological exhibition. Central Hall. Westminster, 1934. Imagno—Getty Images  A woman having her head x-rayed with the new shock-proof apparatus at the London Medical Exhibition, Royal Horticultural Hall. The apparatus, which is designed for the consulting room, is simple to use as it can be plugged in to any domestic lighting point'. 1934. SSPL—Getty Images  In October 1937 in Rio de Janeiro, a radiograph invented by Professor physicist Moraes De Abreu to detect lung diseases, called Roentgen-Photographie was used on a patient. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images  An x-ray technician with the US Medical Corps tending to a wounded soldier during World War Two, circa 1941-1945. US Army Signal Corps—Getty Images  Doctors using x-ray machine to feed venous catherter into patient's heart, 1947. Al Fenn—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Small child being given chest x-ray at Chelsea Chest Clinic, 1949. Cornell Capa—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  X-ray machine, at the California dental association exhibit, California state fair, 1953. Jon Brenneis—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  A desperate patient who has hiccups is x-rayed at the Flower-Fifth hospital Hospital in New York, 1955. Three Lions—Getty Images  X-ray machine which circles head to take panoramic picture of teeth, eliminating usual mouthful of film, 1960. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images X-Ray Photography: See 15 Vintage Photos of X-Rays at Work ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4155549/vintage-x-ray-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4155549/vintage-x-ray-photos/"},"headline":"See Incredible Vintage Photos of People Getting X-Rays","datePublished":"2016-01-05T12:00:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:45.277Z","description":"The world first learned about X-rays 120 years ago, on Jan. 5, 1896","url":"https://time.com/4155549/vintage-x-ray-photos/","keywords":["health","Newsfeed","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14e502e0d9c8fd2d/6988761f8e06016479463d65/151218-vintage-xrays-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14e502e0d9c8fd2d/6988761f8e06016479463d65/151218-vintage-xrays-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Woman having her head x-rayed, 15 October 1934.","caption":"Woman having her head x-rayed, 15 October 1934.","creditText":"SSPL—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health/","name":"health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4155549/vintage-x-ray-photos/","name":"See Incredible Vintage Photos of People Getting X-Rays"}}]}] ```