Roentgen Memorial Museum Tour

A tour of the memorial to Roentgen, the man who is credited with discovering x-rays.

Last Updated on April 13, 2021 by A. Scott, BSDH

The Roentgen Memorial is a museum in honor of the work and life of Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, Ph.D. It is a must-see for all dental professionals. This museum tour puts the man Roentgen and his work in context as the ‘man who discovered x-rays.’

The Lovely Town of Wuerzburg

Wuerzburg is a small town in the region of Frankfurt, Germany with loads to see and do. For example, there is a royal Residence to tour. The residence was bombed heavily but restored to an impressive state.

We enjoyed the lovely downtown area and ate on the old main bridge, at the Alte Mainmuehle, famous for serving regional wines. There is also an impressive fortress just across the river to tour. This tour was organized as one of the excursions in our EARDH Annual Conference 2019 in Wuerzburg.

The History of Roentgen

Dr. Roentgen has a very interesting and, in some ways, unfortunate history. He was a brilliant man but his path through academia was not easy. Nevertheless, he eventually graduated a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Dr. Roentgen worked in the Physics and Engineering departments of different universities in Germany.

For example, he worked at the University of Wuerzburg. He also “discovered” x-rays in Wuerzburg. He started in the Physics department at the University of Munich from 1900 until the end of his life. Subsequently, he earned a Nobel Prize in 1901 and died of a carcinoma of the intestines in 1923.

Interestingly, the rooms in the Memorial that we toured are the actual rooms where he worked and discovered x-rays. The equipment is a replica of his equipment.