X-ray machine, which had revolutionised the medical practice, has been voted as the best scientific invention, ahead of the Apollo 10 space capsule and Stephenson’s Rocket.
Out of nearly 50,000 votes cast, one in five people named it for having made the greatest impact on the past, present and future.
Ten of the most significant objects in science, engineering, technology and medicine were selected for the poll which was conducted as part of the Science Museum’s events to mark its centenary.
The first three positions were filled by medical inventions or discoveries, the X-ray machine being followed by the discoveries of penicillin and the DNA double helix structure.
X-rays provided the first possibility of looking inside someone’s body without cutting them open — a massive medical advance, the BBC reported.
Professor Andy Adam, president of the Royal College of Radiologists, was delighted to learn of the result. He said the X-ray machine had revolutionised medical practice and that the technology had now advance so much that we are reaching the era of the “transparent patient”.
