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1 of 15A man receiving an x-ray in Austria, circa 1910.Imagno—Getty Images -
2 of 15A chest X-ray in progress at Professor Menard's radiology department at the Cochin hospital, Paris, 1914.Jacques Boyer/Roger Viollet—Getty Images -
3 of 15One 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 -
4 of 15A 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 -
5 of 15Filmstar Judith Allen with the radiograph of her back, circa 1930.Imagno—Getty Images -
6 of 15An x-ray demonstration with the latest x-ray apparatus. London. 1932.Imagno—Getty Images -
7 of 15The 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 -
8 of 15A 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 -
9 of 15In 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 -
10 of 15An 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 -
11 of 15Doctors using x-ray machine to feed venous catherter into patient's heart, 1947.Al Fenn—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images -
12 of 15Small child being given chest x-ray at Chelsea Chest Clinic, 1949.Cornell Capa—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images -
13 of 15X-ray machine, at the California dental association exhibit, California state fair, 1953.Jon Brenneis—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images -
14 of 15A desperate patient who has hiccups is x-rayed at the Flower-Fifth hospital Hospital in New York, 1955.Three Lions—Getty Images -
15 of 15X-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
The way the story 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, and some not so much. In the early days, X-Ray technicians would often burn themselves or suffer from overdoses of radiation.”X–rays are literally death rays,” TIME declared 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.
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