NEW POEM: Wilhelm Röntgen’s World

Wilhelm Röntgen advanced the scope of our knowledge and our reach as a species in, at the time, almost unimaginable ways. Röntgen Radiation, as it is known around the world...or X-Rays were born. In the above image you see the very first one. It is a picture of Anna Bertha Ludwig's hand - the hand of his wife, and you can clearly see the wedding ring which helped to demonstrate the ability to differentiate features dependant upon the density of tone.

Röntgen's incredible discovery took place in his laboratory in Würzburg, in what was already proving to be a great year for German invention, advancement and construction. One of the many towering monuments in Würzburg is the Marienkapelle with it's golden Madonna soaring into the sky and keeping watch on the city, a city that has seen much change and turmoil; a Madonna who herself has fallen, burned and been restored - hence the achoring of this piece to her gaze. The poem you are about to read, "Wilhelm Röntgen’s World", explores the period, place and it's comparison with others. It also takes time to enjoy the eduring love between Wilhelm and Anna.

Wilhelm Röntgen’s World

A Poem By Simon Clark

Madonna was watching from the top of the Marienkapelle,

Witnessing the great growth of her country,

Munich’s bicycle laws,

Testing required, there’s a number plate clause,

The first gasoline bus route and the Diesel engine patent,

Cultural growth and a turn away from the combatant,

Grace Chisholm Young for higher education,

Berlin’s Wintergarten revealing visual sensations.

The Jutland Peninsula connected to the North Sea,

Fein Brothers entered the world constructively,

All this in 1895,

The very year that Würzburg saw the medical world come alive.

Madonna was watching from the top of the Marienkapelle,

Witnessing the brink of discovery,

In England we grappled,

Oscar confined to cages that rattled,

From the depths of conviction and an indecent confinement,

As London’s Queen’s Hall presents promenaded refinement,

But back in Würzburg, the city stood unaware,

That over a tipple of Franconia’s finest they glare,

Wilhelm and Anna recoiling at the image they see,

Radiant bone like the branches on a tree,

’94 saw Adam and Eve –

- removed from the city. Fortuitous time for science to breathe.

Madonna was watching from the top of the Marienkapelle,

Witnessing Anna seeing her own death,

Würzburg; Germany’s pride,

Röntgen’s gift to the world; no one denied,

As binding as the wedding ring that remained in the x-ray,

Tragedy knowing Wilhelm would die penniless one day,

Without his belovèd wife by his bedside,

Anna was dead so whenever he called she never replied,

Such luck he died before more attacks on humanity,

Encouraged innovation not depravity,

Now ’21, don’t stand and squint,

It’s possible you’re reading this on a Koenig and Bauer print.

Madonna still watches from the top of the Marienkapelle,

Witnessing her razing until she rose,

Which town’s next to impress?

This is the vision she’s seen be finessed.

From those inane designs to the exceptional inventions,

From those travelling salesman to the largest conventions,

From those upwardly mobile to growing poor,

Perhaps it’s why there’s no patent so he could open some doors,

Wilhelm’s visionary find and Anna’s keen, loving hand,

Has saved countless lives from all over the land,

Ever since then the world has tried,

Never to take for granted what’s revealed when we look deep inside.

© Simon Clark