How to Look at a Skeleton Without Cutting Anyone Open

These historic X-ray images did the trick!

Versuche über Photographie mittelst der Röntgen’schen Strahlen. 1896. Public Domain. Collection by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

When I was younger, I used to love looking at the X-ray photographs of my teeth. The way this technology could — within seconds — flip you inside out without ever really touching you was amazing to me. Imagine how amazing it was for Wilhelm Röentgen, who discovered the X-rays in 1895. He must have been…