The phenomenon of radioactivity was first discovered by

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Marie Curie

Henri Becquerel

Frederick Soddy

Ernest Rutherford

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UPSC Geoscientist – 2023

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The phenomenon of radioactivity was first discovered by French physicist Henri Becquerel in 1896. He observed that uranium salts spontaneously emitted radiation that could expose photographic plates, even when the salts were wrapped in opaque paper.

Henri Becquerel’s accidental discovery of radiation from uranium marked the beginning of the study of radioactivity.

Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie followed up on Becquerel’s work, isolating new radioactive elements like polonium and radium and coining the term “radioactivity”. They, along with Becquerel, shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for their work on radioactivity. Ernest Rutherford later characterized the different types of radiation (alpha, beta, gamma) and developed the nuclear model of the atom. Frederick Soddy is known for his work on isotopes and their role in radioactivity.

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