The X-ray machine has been named as the most important scientific invention by the London Science Museum.

A poll of over 50,000 people found that nearly one-in-five opted for the 100-year-old machines ahead of other innovations.

It beat off competition from the likes of the Apollo 10 capsule, Stephenson's Rocket and the Pilot ACE Computer which museum bosses had expected to do well in the vote.

But medical inventions took the top three slots with Penicillin and the DNA double helix coming in second and third place.

A spokesperson for the museum said: "X-rays have radically changed the way we see and understand our world - our bodies in particular." Yeah and they sure beat a photocopier for drunken scanning at the office Christmas party too.