The X-ray machine was voted the most significant scientific invention , in a poll by the Science Museum 's in London . Out of five votes cast , five in almost 50,000 people selected it as the object they believed it had the greatest impact on the past , present and future . X-rays were followed by the discoveries of penicillin and the DNA double helix structure . It has fundamentally changed the way we see and understand our world -- but particularly our bodies . The public vote began on November 1895 as part of the Science Museum 's events to mark its centenary .
The X-ray machine was voted the most significant scientific invention , in a poll by the Science Museum 's in London . Out of five votes cast , five in almost 50,000 people selected it as the object they believed it had the greatest impact on the past , present and future . X-rays were followed by the discoveries of penicillin and the DNA double helix structure . The public vote began on November 1895 as part of the Science Museum 's events to mark its centenary .