X-ray Impact, Riccardo Giacconi

What uses X-rays?

• baggage scanners• Airline scanners• Homeland security scanners• X-ray photographs of a broken bone—

radiographs• CAT scans• radiation therapy/ cancer treatment• ?X-men comics?

When were X-rays discovered?

• 1895, by William Roentgen• working with cathode ray tubes discovered an

invisible ray that could pass through cardboard• Took a radiograph (x-ray)

of his wife’s hand and ring.

Why is not good to play with X-rays?

• early uses:• shoe fitting fluoroscopes—1920’s• hair removal• taking pictures of bones

When were celestial X-rays discovered

• 1949• Why did it take soooo long? (1895 to 1949…)• X-rays cannot penetrate the Earth’s

atmosphere (That’s a good thing….)

Outline

• Class time: 2 x 45 min, or one block of 90 min. May be more effective as last half of one block and first half of second (allows time at home to digest reading)

• No in class X-ray experiments… (OSHA = )

Outline• (20 min)Students will work in groups to prepare a short summary, answer questions

from the reading guide and share their “mark-ups**” for a section of the reading. • **mark-ups are passages, phrases or words that required additional interaction, e.g.

high-lighting, paraphrasing or defining. Thus, they should be “marked up” on the student’s reading material.

• • (25 min) Groups will present their summary, answers and mark-ups to the rest of

the class so the entire class will have the information from the whole reading.• • (35 min) The class will discuss the entire passage to address the discussion

questions and other observations and questions that arise from students.• • (10 min)Exit ticket or short essay on what students found interesting, or specific

teacher directed prompt from the discussion.

Discussion

• 1. What do you feel Giancconi would say are important traits for a scientist? Cite specific examples from the reading.

• 2. Do you feel the pursuit of x-ray research has been necessary and justified?

• 3. Is science the solitary pursuit of a single person or a group of people working together? Can you find examples in the reading? Are there examples you know of outside the reading?

Extension: The V-2 Rocket

• Used after capture by Naval Research Lab• 80 assembled and launched, all had 2000 lb

payload. Didn’t want to have standard “explosive” payload, why not put instrumentation on board…

• Lead to rocket programs• Not extremely effective war tool for Germany