Landmarks of Human Thought I - Catalog - Page 30
William
D.
Coolidge
X-Ray
National Inventors Hall of Fame®
U.S. Patent No. 1,203,495
Inducted in 1975
Born Oct. 23, 1873 - Died Feb. 04, 1975
W
illiam D. Coolidge's name is inseparably
linked with the X-ray tube, popularly called
the "Coolidge tube."
This invention completely revolutionized the
generation of X-rays and remains to this day the
model upon which all X-ray tubes for medical
applications are patterned.
Coolidge, born in Hudson, Massachusetts,
graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in 1896, majoring in electrical
engineering. He received his Ph.D. in 1899 from the
University of Leipzig. He later returned to MIT,
working first as an instructor and later as an
assistant professor.
Coolidge joined the staff of General Electric
Company's Research Laboratory in 1905 and early
in his career played a major role in the development
of the modern incandescent lamp. He invented
ductile tungsten, the filament material still used in
such lamps.
He worked on many other devices such as highquality magnetic steel, improved ventilating fans,
and the electric blanket. During World War II he
contributed research to projects involving radar and
radar countermeasures. He was awarded 83 patents
during his lifetime.
William D. Coolidge was inducted into
the National Inventors Hall of Fame®
for this U.S. Patent No. 1,203,495.
Reference: National Inventors Hall of Fame (2024, 23. February)
Inductee: William D. Coolidge Invented X-Ray Tube.
NIHF. https://www.invent.org/inductees/william-d-coolidge
