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Article: The discovery of radioactivity and its aftermath.
- Article from:
- Canadian Chemical News
- Article date:
- September 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Chemical Institute of Canada. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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This article celebrates the 100th anniversary of the discovery of radioactivity
The year 1996 marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of natural radioactivity by the French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel while studying the behaviour of a fluorescent uranium salt on exposure to sunlight. The great importance of this development has been underlined by Bagnall who stated that "The scientific scene at the dawn of the 20th century was dominated by the excitement generated from Becquerel's discovery..." [1]. However, the discovery of radioactivity did not attract much attention initially when compared with that accorded to the more penetrating X rays found by the ...