The 1896 X-ray image shows the hand of Albert von Kölliker, not Röntgen's wife

This is what one of the first X-ray images looks like, taken on 23 January 1896. Contrary to a misconception widespread on the internet, it is not a picture of the right hand of the wife of Wilhelm Röntgen, discoverer of the mysterious X-rays. It is a picture of the hand of his friend, the biologist Albert von Kölliker. For his discovery Röntgen was awarded the first Nobel Prize in Physics in history.

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

The 1896 X-ray image shows the hand of Albert von Kölliker, not Röntgen's wife

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s