ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on two discoveries: radioactivity by Becquerel and of radium by Marie and Pierre Curie. Becquerel continued to study radioactivity during 1896 and 1897, and within three months of his discovery had demonstrated that uranium itself was the source of the radiation. However, it was Becquerel's discovery of radioactivity that led to the Curies' announcement4 in Paris on December 26th 1898 of the discovery of radium. An idea of the difficulties involved in separating radium from pitchblende can be imagined when reading the reports that Marie Curie initially obtained only one-tenth of a grain of radium from two tons of pitchblende and that it was considered to be an achievement by Giesel when his yield was four grains of radium bromide per ton of ore. The Austrian Government soon realised the commercial value of a monopoly on the supply of radium and prohibited further export of the Bohemian pitchblende.
