The First Nobel Prize - Röntgen and the Future of X-Rays ｜ Tomorrow Today

A new research facility is under construction in Hamburg. The European X-ray Free Electron Laser, or XFEL, will provide new insights into the world of molecules. And this is the idea behind the gigantic project. In a tunnel that's more than three kilometers long, electrons are accelerated to near the speed of light. They form groups and then emit bursts of X-ray light. The wavelength of this radiation is so small, it can be used to resolve details on an atomic scale. Some of the project's researchers are hoping to use the laser to study biochemical processes. It will allow us to investigate complex reactions that we otherwise couldn't dream of understanding. You can study biological reactions with proteins while the protein is doing its job in real time. It all goes back to Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen. In 1895, he discovered a new kind of electromagnetic radiation he called X-rays. The highly penetrating rays made hidden structures visible. And they earned Röntgen the first Nobel Prize for physics. Since then, X-rays have become an indispensable tool in medicine. Nowadays, they are used in high-resolution instruments that can render tiny structures visible, like parts of the heart. Using X-ray images, doctors construct three-dimensional models that help them carry out surgery with great precision. X-rays are also essential in non-medical fields, in astronomy, for example. X-ray telescopes on the orbiting XXM Newton satellite reveal black holes in faraway galaxies. Before matter is gobbled up by a black hole, it becomes very hot and emits X-rays, which the telescopes detect. From the vastness of outer space to the microscopically small parts of cells. X-rays have helped to identify the structure of cell bodies, like the ribosomes that are the subject of Ada Yonath's Nobel Prize-winning work. When I started, nobody, as I said, nobody believed in it. And I was known to be the dreamer and the fantasianer and the wishful thinker, sometimes called me the liar, for 15 years. But when we could prove after 15 years, then we had some what we called colleagues. Yonath was able to crystallize the ribosomes, the cells' protein-making factories, and determine their structure using X-rays. Roentgen's discovery made it all possible. OK, I don't think that I'm as good, as clever as Roentgen was, not even a little bit. But between Roentgen and today was a phase where, when the idea to use Roentgen for studying crystal structure had to be put. The XFEL facility in Hamburg will also be putting X-rays to new uses. The researchers there are sure the X-ray laser will provide fascinating images of the interior of cells. If that actually can be resolved, if I were the Nobel Committee, I'd certainly award the prize for it. The XFEL is due to be completed in 2014. Then it can start producing new milestones in research, in the tradition of Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen.