X-rays : Man becomes transparent

On December 28, 1895, the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen announced he had discovered rays which he called X. With these rays, we can see inside objects, and when the hand is interposed, it is the bones that appear!

For the public, these rays are a source of entertainment. For doctors, they offer a revolutionary technique for exploring the human body. Many of these pioneers who use X-rays are victims of radiation dermatitis, or burns to the hands that, in the most severe cases, lead to amputations and even death.

Regulation of the use of X-rays and implementation of radiation protection measures would not come before the late 1920s.

MIT 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism Lecture 36

X-Ray astronomy.

Farewell Special.

 

Synchrotrons and Preserving the Tudor Warship Mary Rose

 Ritimukta Sarangi, staff scientist in the Structural Molecular Biology group at SSRL, a subdivision of SLAC, delivered the Public Lecture, "Saving the Mary Rose: Synchrotrons and the Preservation of a Tudor Warship." (October 2, 2012)

Sarangi's talk, explains how synchrotron-generated X-rays were used to help preserve a 500-year-old warship after it was salvaged from the bottom of the Atlantic in 1985.

The warship was the Mary Rose, built in 1511 and the flagship of King Henry VIII. She sank in 1545 while en route to confront the French fleet in battle. The ship lay undersea for 440 years before being raised, and her salvaging was not the end of her troubles. The restored Mary Rose is being constantly treated to preserve the wood structure, but in 2002 a new problem arose that began rapidly destroying the ship.

Sarangi tells the story of how research at SSRL uncovered the cause of the problem and a way to help. As Sarangi says, "This lecture will present the amazing story of archeology, chemistry, and physics that preserves this precious artifact and gives us a glimpse back into Tudor times."

Lecturer: Ritimukta Sarangi, SLAC

Supernova Shock Waves—Powerhouses of the Galaxy

Yasunobu Uchiyama, a scientist with the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at SLAC, delivered the Nov. 27 SLAC Public Lecture, "Supernova Shock Waves: Powerhouses of the Galaxy."

Uchiyama's talk highlights the powerful remnants of exploding stars, called supernovae, which are among the universe's most spectacular pyrotechnics displays.

For thousands of years after a supernova explosion, massive orbs of high-energy particles with strong magnetic fields remain confined by the expanding shock wave. These remnants "are among the most beautiful and mysterious objects in the cosmos," notes Uchiyama, a member of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Large Area Telescope collaboration who has expertise in supernova remnants.

The Fermi space telescope allows researchers to study supernova remnants in many wavelengths, from visible light to radio waves, X-rays and gamma rays. Uchiyama describes Fermi telescope observations that reveal how supernova remnants act as giant particle accelerators, spewing high-energy cosmic rays. Lecturer: Yasunobu Uchiyama, SLAC

X-ray Laser Captures Atoms and Molecules in Action

The Linac Coherent Light Source at SLAC is the world's most powerful X-ray laser. Just two years after turning on in 2009, breakthrough science is emerging from the LCLS at a rapid pace. A recent experiment used the X-rays to create and probe a 2-million-degree piece of matter in a controlled way for the first time—a significant leap toward understanding the extreme conditions found in the hearts of stars and giant planets, and a finding which could further guide research into nuclear fusion, the mechanism that powers the sun. Upcoming experiments will investigate the fundamental, atomic-scale processes behind such phenomena as superconductivity and magnetism, as well as peering into the molecular workings of photosynthesis in plants.

 Filmed and produced by SLAC Multimedia Communications; Music ("The Dig") courtesy Dwight Chalmers @ The Listen Laboratory. Copyright 2012 SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

 

The Evolution of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Over the course of its 50 year history, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has evolved from a groundbreaking particle physics research facility to one of the world's foremost multipurpose laboratories. Here lab director Persis Drell tells the story of how the focus of research at SLAC has grown and changed since the earliest days.

(SLAC is for Stanford Linear Accelerator Center)

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ScienceCasts: Why Won't the Supernova Explode?

A question has been troubling astronomers: Why won't the supernova explode? Although real stars blow up, the best computer models of dying stars do not result in much of a bang. NASA has launched a new observatory named "NuSTAR" to seek out the missing physics of exploding stars.

Chandra: Listening to Light

When we look up on a dark night, we see a sky filled with stars. The light from a star, like the light from a flashlight or a lightning bug, is one form of electromagnetic radiation.

(Chandra :  x-ray observatory)

 

Image guidance, the way forward for radiotherapy

Uwe Oelfke from the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, explains how image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) can address one of the key challenges in modern radiotherapy – namely how to deliver a lethal dose of radiation to a tumour while sparing surrounding healthy tissue. The problem is that radiotherapy generally involves directing an invisible beam at an invisible tumour, based on patient images acquired prior to the treatment. Oelfke explains how IGRT involves acquiring additional images of the patient in the treatment position, immediately before or during radiation treatment, ensuring that the beam is precisely targeted at the tumour.

 

The Science of Seeing Inside Your Body

Find out how scientists build machines that do what our eyes cannot - see inside the human body.

Medical imaging:  X-rays, nuclear medicine, Ct-scanning, magnetic resonance imaging, pet scanning.

How Damaging is Radiation?

What is radiation? Are all types harmful? What are the most common sources of damaging radiation? Most people view radiation as harmful and negative without understanding what makes it potentially damaging and which forms should be avoided. For example, many felt radiation from mobile phones probably caused cancer but few focused on the carcinogenic effects of UV rays.

Other Veritasium videos

Medical Imaging: Getting Under Your Skin

This is a very good lecture!

Sound, motion, and a bit of fury pulse through this dynamic investigation into several imaging techniques used to examine the human body. Physicist Paul Lyman immediately captures the attention of his audience with his entrance, bumping down the long flight of lecture-room stairs to the front of the room on his bicycle. He hops off, removes his helmet and plunges into the world of X rays, computer tomography (CT scan), nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound.

Source:  UW-Milwaukee Science Bag

Other UWM Science Bag videos

Producing X-rays at the APS

An introduction and overview of the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, the technology that produces the brightest X-ray beams in the Western Hemisphere, and the research carried out by scientists using those X-rays.

I found the video on this blog:  Physics and physicists

Taking the X Out of X-Rays

In this very old movie, Dr. William D. Coolidge from General Electric explains what X-Rays are and how they are produced.

Source:  Internet Archive

X-Ray interactions

This animation illustrates the five primary mechanisms by which high energy photons interact with matter:  coherent scattering, Compton effect, photoelectric effect, pair production and photodisintegration.

Other animations by Penn State Schuylkill