Roentgen (unit) Roentgen (unit) The roentgen or röntgen () (symbol R) is a legacy unit of measurement for the exposure of X-rays and gamma rays. It is defined as the electric charge freed by such radiation in a specified volume of air divided by the mass of that air. In 1928 it was the first international measurement quantity for ionising radiation to be defined for radiation protection, and was an easily replicated method of measuring air ionization directly by using an ion chamber. It is named after the German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen, who discovered X-rays. Although relatively easy to measure, it had
Discovery of the neutron elements by neutron irradiation (1934) and the fission of uranium atoms by neutrons (1938). The discovery of fission led to the creation of both nuclear power and weapons by the end of World War II. Both the proton and neutron were presumed to be elementary particles until the 1960s when they were determined to be composite particles built from quarks. At the start of the 20th century, the vigorous debate as to the existence of atoms had not yet been resolved. Philosophers such as Ernst Mach and Wilhelm Ostwald denied that atoms were real, viewing them as a convenient mathematical