1896–1898Reputable sourceWell documented
Radioactivity: Becquerel and the Curies
On the timeline · around 1896–1898 ·
What happened
In 1896 Henri Becquerel found that uranium gives off penetrating rays all on its own. Marie and Pierre Curie took up the mystery, coining the word 'radioactivity' and isolating two new radioactive elements, polonium and radium. The rays, they showed, came from within the atom itself.
Why it matters
Radioactivity revealed that atoms are not immutable but can transform and release energy, overturning centuries of belief. It won Marie Curie two Nobel Prizes and helped open the age of nuclear physics.
Sources
- The Nobel Prize. Marie Curie – Facts (Nobel Prize in Physics 1903) · Reputable source