Probably the most pleasing postcard in the company’s history 

In mid-January 1896, a few days after Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen’s discovery, the first physicians began using X-rays in certain examinations. The age-old dream of the “glass patient” had suddenly come true. Almost from one day to the next, many diagnostic procedures were utterly transformed. But the “physicians of phototherapy” – as the radiologists soon came to be known – faced a series of technical obstacles: “For beginners, the correct handling of the tubes can prove quite a challenge,” wrote the pioneering radiologist Heinrich Albers-Schönberg. “Many tubes were damaged by unwanted sparkover – in other words, disruptive discharge.”

Occasionally, the tubes shattered “with a loud bang, spreading tiny fragments of glass in all directions.” Albers-Schönberg therefore suggested covering the patient’s face with a cloth “to protect their eyes in the event that the tube should smash.” This problem was compounded by the fact that the tubes in those days were originally designed for studying gases and either couldn’t produce X-rays at all or required great dexterity, a sufficient knowledge of physics, or sheer luck on the part of the user.