The plates and slides were achieved by Giuseppe Vicentini in the Cabinet of Physics of the University of Padua in January 1896.

Date: 1896

Description

As soon as Röntgen published the discovery of X rays, on 28 December 1895, his experiments were repeated by other scientists in the whole Europe. In Padua, Giuseppe Vicentini and his assistant, Giulio Pacher, carried out careful studies on this topic and, on 26 January 1896, they presented a first Memoria on their experiments and on the plates they had obtained. Supporting the importance of X rays for medicine, Vicentini looked for interested physicians and he launched in Padua, for the first time in Italy, radiological experimentation.

The two plates and the two slides (obtained by Vicentini from his own X-ray plates) represent:

a) A woman’s hand (slide). On the manuscript label: “Experiments 16-18 January 1896 / Shrunken reproduction” and the signature “G. Vicentini”.

 b) A fish (slide). On the manuscript label: “Experiments 16-18 January 1896 / Shrunken reproduction for projection” and the signature “G. Vicentini”.

c) A screwdriver and a coin (X-ray plate). On the manuscript label (same writing as the previous ones): “First photographs obtained with Röntgen rays. January 1896 (Screwdriver and 5 cents coin)”. 

d) Geometrical form (X-ray plate). On the manuscript label (same writing as the previous ones): “First photographs carried out with Röntgen rays. January 1896 (Iron foil cut and bent, covered with a brass net)”. 

These first X-ray plates were achieved by Vicentini and Pacher thanks to “a large Ruhmkorff coil with a Foucault interrupter” and one of their Crookes tubes (Vicentini and Pacher, 1896). To get good quality images, they used long exposures, ie. at least twenty minutes for rather thin bodies and one hour for thick bodies. In the following years, Vicentini continued his studies on X-rays with more and more sophisticated tubes.

Materials and techniques: glass/paper

Dimensions: height 10,5 cm, width 10,5 cm, depth 0,2 cm

Related scholars: Giuseppe Vicentini (b.1860 - d.1944). Professor of Experimental physics at the University of Padua from 1894 to 1931.

Keywords: modern physics

University of Padua, Museum of the History of Physics

Cat. Number: 840

Exhibitions

• "Bagliori nel vuoto. Dall'uovo elettrico ai raggi X: electricity e pneumatica dal Seicento ad oggi"., Padua, Botanical garden, 1 February-30 June 2004

Bibliography

• Giuseppe Vicentini e Giulio Pacher, Esperienze coi Raggi di Roentgen, "Memorie del Reale Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti", vol. 25, n.7, 1896, pp. 3-18