Who won the first Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded in 1901 for discovering X-rays?

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen won the first Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded in 1901 for discovering X-rays.

Röntgen discovered X-rays in 1895 while experimenting with cathode-ray tubes at the University of Würzburg. He noticed that a fluorescent screen nearby glowed even though the tube was covered. He called the unknown radiation X-rays, using X to indicate its unexplained nature.

His early images included a radiograph of his wife Anna Bertha's hand, showing bones and a ring. The discovery quickly transformed medical diagnosis because doctors could view internal structures without surgery.

Röntgen's Nobel citation honored his discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him. Henri Becquerel won the next Physics Nobel, for discovering spontaneous radioactivity, while J. J. Thomson won in 1906 for investigations of the conduction of electricity by gases.