Finding the Value of X-Rays

In researching our article on X-ray crystallography ("X-ray Vision") we came across this 1940s-era General Electric film, Taking the X Out of X-rays, which discusses the origins of X-ray research and the technology that made it possible.

The nine-minute black-and-white video explains what X-rays are, how they work, and the basics of X-ray photography and fluoroscopy. The information is still relevant 70 years later, long after most of us have lost the sense of wonder about the hidden world these rays reveal. But for the film’s presenter, that sense of wonder is fresh and exciting. He marvels, “Rays, which are themselves invisible, can reveal objects that are otherwise also invisible.”