Profile Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen : The Invented Rontgen

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was born on March 27, 1845, in Lennep, located in the Lower Rhine Province of Germany. He was the sole offspring of a cloth merchant and manufacturer. His mother, Charlotte Constanze Frowein, hailed from Amsterdam and belonged to a prominent family that had established roots in Lennep.

At the age of three, Röntgen’s family relocated to Apeldoorn in the Netherlands, where he attended the Institute of Martinus Herman van Doorn, a boarding school. Although he did not exhibit any particular academic talent, he developed a passion for nature and enjoyed exploring the countryside and forests. He demonstrated a notable skill for creating mechanical devices, a talent that persisted throughout his life. In 1862, he enrolled in a technical school in Utrecht but was unjustly expelled after being falsely accused of creating a caricature of a teacher, a work actually produced by another student.

In 1865, Röntgen began his studies in physics at the University of Utrecht. Lacking the necessary qualifications for regular admission, he learned that he could gain entry to the Polytechnic in Zurich by passing an entrance examination, which he successfully completed. He then pursued mechanical engineering there, attending lectures by Clausius and conducting laboratory work under Kundt, both of whom significantly influenced his academic growth. Röntgen earned his Ph.D. from the University of Zurich in 1869, subsequently becoming Kundt’s assistant and relocating with him to Würzburg that same year, and later to Strasbourg three years afterward.

In 1874, he achieved the status of Lecturer at Strasbourg University, and in 1875, he was appointed as a Professor at the Academy of Agriculture in Hohenheim, Württemberg. He returned to Strasbourg in 1876 as a Professor of Physics, but three years later, he accepted an offer to take the Chair of Physics at the University of Giessen.

After turning down offers for similar roles at the Universities of Jena (1886) and Utrecht (1888), he ultimately accepted a position at the University of Würzburg in 1888, succeeding Kohlrausch and finding himself among esteemed colleagues.