A roentgen centennial legacy: the first use of the X-ray by the U.S. military in the Spanish-American War.

The year 1996 marked the centennial of the advent of the roentgen ray in the United States. The compelling value of this novel scientific discovery by Professor Wilhelm Roentgen of Würzberg, Germany, to image the previously arcane depths of the living human body was astounding and recognized as a major advance. This report details the work of some key personnel and developments in the science of warfare that confirmed the great promise of the X-ray in the diagnostic armamentarium of military surgeons (a leading proponent being Professor Nicholas Senn, the founder of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States) in this last American conflict of the 19th century.