World Radiography Day

Tags: Important Days

World Radiography Day is celebrated every year on 8 November.

Important facts

• The day marks the anniversary of the birth of X-rays.

• X-ray plays a huge role in the medical industry as one of the diagnostic tools that help doctors detect a wide variety of problems, and diagnose diseases to treat them better and in a timely manner.

• X-rays have made diagnosis easy and painless.

• The day also helps to recognize the hard work of radiographers and radiologists who made X-rays possible.

• This is the 11th International Day of Radiology and this is observed by all the medical imaging professionals from across the world.

• The theme of International Day of Radiology 2022 - "Radiologists and Radiographers supporting patients." 

Background of the day

• X-rays were discovered by Professor Wilhelm Konrad Röntgen in the year 1895, when he was working with cathode-ray tubes in his laboratory.

• He observed a fluorescent glow of crystals on a table near his tube, which contained a bulb with negative and positive electrodes.

• When air was removed from the tube and a high voltage was applied, the tube produced a fluorescent glow.

• When the tube was covered with black paper and that material was placed a few feet away from the tube, it generated a green fluorescent light.

• He found that the rays could pass through human tissues but not through bones and metal.

• The first World Radiography Day was observed in 2007 by the International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists on 8 November.