X-rays literally pierce through everything. In art and caricature they are used to see through the mechanics of politics and society, and in medicine and the natural sciences they make the invisible visible. They allow us to peer into the deepest layers of our bodies or gaze at the most distant galaxies in outer space. X-RAY is the first comprehensive publication on the phenomenon of X-rays and the many cultural dimensions of the X-ray gaze. Drawing on the broad spectrum of X-ray technology - from the first human radiograph to today's state-of-the-art X-ray telescopes - X-RAY explores X-radiography's continuing interactions with popular culture, literature, architecture, music, fashion, and film. The history that emerges in these pages is of nothing less than a revolution of knowledge and visual culture in the modern and contemporary world.