Light from the Big Bang

Science has a rich tradition of great discoveries made purely by chance. In 1895, Wilhelm Röntgen, while working in the darkness of his room on experiments with a cathode ray tube covered by a thick piece of black cardboard, was surprised to see a green light appear on a distant fluorescent screen. Using his apparatus, he took a photograph of his wife’s hand. Horrified at seeing an image of her bones, she exclaimed: “I have seen my death!” And so it was that X-rays were discovered.