X-Ray machine beats the Apollo 10 space capsule and Stephenson’s rocket

• Out of nearly 50,000 votes cast, one in five people named X-rays 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 other Nine

2. Penicillin
3. DNA double helix
4. Apollo 10 capsule
5. V2 rocket engine
6. Stephenson’s rocket
7. Pilot ACE computer
8. Steam engine
9. Model T Ford
10. Electric telegraph