Abstract:

Charles Glover Barkla made significant contributions in the early 1900’s to understanding the nature of the recently discovered “Röntgen rays,” including the discovery that x-rays were polarized and thus electromagnetic radiation.  He then went on to explore the properties of characteristic x-rays from materials and in 1918 was awarded the 1917 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his discovery of the characteristic Röntgen radiation of the elements.”  Although Barkla continued his work in x-ray research for another 25 years, he drifted out of the mainstream of x-ray science, obsessed with searching for his elusive x-ray “J-phenomena.”