When was radiation invented

After years of schooling, Curie began her life and research in Paris. Curie received a commission to conduct research post graduation, and found lab space with Pierre Curie, a friend of a colleague. He was also a professor at Sorbonne.

The Curies were married two years later. At the start of their relationship, Pierre and Marie worked on separate project, but after the birth of their first child, Pierre began to conduct research with Marie on x-rays and uranium. Curie was studying uranium rays, when she made the claim the rays were not dependent on the uranium's form, but on its atomic structure.

Her theory created a new field of study, atomic physics, and Marie herself coined the phrase "radioactivity. Marie and Pierre spent time working with pitchblende. Pitchblende is a mineral that is the crystallized form of uranium oxide, and is about 70 percent uranium. Also used in in the discovery of uranium. Marie and Pierre discovered not only polonium, but also radium, through their work with pitchblende.

In , Marie Curie and her husband won the Nobel Prize in physics for their work on radioactivity. She was the first woman ever to receive a Nobel Prize. Just three years after winning the Nobel Prize, Pierre was killed in an accident. Contributions: Received the Noble Prize in physics for being the first to discover radioactivity as a phenomenon separate from that of x-rays and document the differences between the two.

Henri Becquerel learned of Roentgen's discovery of x-rays through the fluorescence that some materials produce. Using a method similar to that of Roentgen, Becquerel surrounded several photographic plates with black paper and florescent salts.

With the intention of further advancing the study of x-rays, Becquerel intended to place the concealed photographic paper in the sunlight and observe what transpired. Unfortunately, he had to delay his experiment because the skies over Paris were overcast.

He placed the wrapped plates into a dark desk drawer. After a few days Becquerel returned to his experiment unwrapping the photographic paper and developing it, expecting only a light imprint from the salts.

Instead, the salts left very distinct outlines in the photographic paper suggesting that the salts, regardless of lacking an energy source, continually fluoresced. What Becquerel had discovered was radioactivity. Contributions: Pierre and Marie were award the Noble Prize in Physics in for their work on radioactivity.

Marie Curie became the first woman to be awarded the nobel prize and the first person to obtain two nobel prizes when she won the prize for the discovery of Polonium and Radium in Though it was Henri Becquerel that discovered radioactivity, it was Marie Curie who coined the term.

Using a device invented by her husband and his brother, that measured extremely low electrical currents, Curie was able to note that uranium electrified the air around it. Further investigation showed that the activity of uranium compounds depended upon the amount of uranium present and that radioactivity was not a result of the interactions between molecules, but rather came from the atom itself.

Using Pitchblende and chalcolite Curie found that Thorium was radioactive as well. She later discovered two new radioactive elements: Radium and Polonium which took her several years since these elements are difficult to extract and extremely rare. Unfortunately, the Curies died young. Pierre Curie was killed in a street accident and Marie died of aplastic anemia, almost certainly a result of radiation exposure.

Contributions: Ernest Rutherford is considered the father of nuclear physics. With his gold foil experiment he was able to unlock the mysteries of the atomic structure. He received the noble prize in chemistry in In at the University of Manchester, Rutherford was bombarding a piece of gold foil with Alpha particles. Rutherford noted that although most of the particles went straight through the foil, one in every eight thousand was deflected back.

He concluded that though an atom consists of mostly empty space, most of its mass is concentrated in a very small positively charged region known as the nucleus, while electrons buzz around on the outside. Rutherford was also able to observe that radioactive elements underwent a process of decay over time which varied from element to element. In , Rutherford used alpha particles to transmutate one element Oxygen into another element Nitrogen. Papers at the timed called it "splitting the atom.

We now have the essentials to utilize radioactive elements. Roentgen gave us x-rays, Becquerel discovered radioactivity, the Curies were able to discover which elements were radioactive, and Rutherford brought about transmutation and the "splitting of the atom. Time showed the damaging effects of radiation exposure and the incredible destruction that could be harnessed from these elements.

Radioactive isotopes are presently used in many aspects of human life today. Most people recognize radioactivity's contributions to industry, research and war, but it is even used within many peoples homes. Here are a few examples of how radioactive isotopes are utilized today. Researchers are also looking for substances that may help protect normal cells from radiation. The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team. Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as journalists, editors, and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.

American Society of Clinical Oncology. Accessed at www. Timeline: Milestones in Cancer Treatment. Two Hundred Years of Cancer Research. N Engl J Med. Hajdu SI. Hajdu SI, Darvishian F. Hajdu SI, Vadmal M. American Cancer Society medical information is copyrighted material. For reprint requests, please see our Content Usage Policy. Download this topic [PDF]. History of Cancer Treatments: Radiation Therapy.