January 23, 1896, first public demonstration of Wilhem Conrad Roentgen's newly discovered x-rays. He took an x-ray of the hand of Professor Albert von Kolliker which lead to a lively discussion about the possible medical applications of this discovery.Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (1845-1923), German experimental physicist and discoverer of X-rays. While using a discharge tube (in which an electric discharge is passed through a gas at low pressure) in a darkened room, Roentgen noticed that a card coated with barium platinocyanide glowed when the tube was switched on. The effect was not blocked by an intervening wall, or even a thin sheet of metal. Roentgen termed this newly discovered phenomenon X-ray radiation, and suggested that it consisted of electromagnetic rays with a shorter wavelength than light. He was awarded the first Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901.