physical properties of radium , radium dangers , radium uses in everyday life , who discovered radium and polonium
Share
Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link and will create a new password via email.
Answer ( 1 )
The Curies discovered radium
Other scientists hard at work discovering radioactive elements were Polish scientist Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie, a French scientist. While working in France at the time of Becquerels discovery, they became very interested in his work. They too suspected that a uranium ore, known as pitchblende, contained other radioactive elements. The Curies started looking for these other elements, and in 1898 they discovered another radioactive element in pitchblende. They named it `polonium in honor of Marie Curies native homeland. Later that same year, the Curies discovered another radioactive element which they named radium. Both polonium and radium were more radioactive than uranium.
For their work on radioactivity, the Curies were awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics. In 1910, Marie Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for her discoveries of radium and polonium, thus becoming the first person to receive two Nobel Prizes. Since these discoveries, many other radioactive elements have been discovered or produced. Today many artificial radioactive materials are produced and put to use in various ways ranging from medical to industrial. We will continue to talk about these in the following pages.