Radioactivity: Historical Figures

John Wilben Sibayan

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Are you familiar with ME?

Do you know WILHELM CONRAD ROENTGEN? Do you know HENRI BECQUEREL? Do you know PIERRE CURIE and MARIE CURIE? Lastly.... Do you know ERNEST RUTHERFORD?

Lets start with......

WILHELM CONRAD ROENTGEN

Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen

I am WILHELM ROENTGEN!
November 8, 1895 (University of Wurzburg)-His attention was drawn to a glowing flourescent screen on the nearby table. He determined that the flourescent was caused by invisible rays. Surprisingly, these mysterious rays penetrated the opaque black paper around the tube.

I am WILHELM ROENTGEN!
He discovered X-rays, a momentous event that instantly revolutionized the field of Physics and medicine. He received the FIRST Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. He was expelled from his school because of prank committed by another student.

Example of an X-Ray

I am WILHELM ROENTGEN!
He was even accused of having stolen the discovery of X-rays by those who never sought honors or financial profit. However, he refused to take out any patients in order that the world could freely benefit from his work.

Next was...

HENRI BECQUEREL

Antoine Henri Becquerel

I am HENRI BECQUEREL!
He was born into a family of scientists. Upon learning how Roentgen discovered x-rays from the flourescence they produced, he had a ready source of fluorescent materials with which to pursue his own investigations of these mysterious ways.

I am HENRI BECQUEREL!
The materials he chose to work with was potassium uranyl sulfate K2UO2(SO4)2, which he exposed to sunlight and placed on photographic plates wrapped in a black paper. When developed, the plates revealed an imageof the uranium crystals.

Potassium Uranyl Sulfate

I am HENRI BECQUEREL!
He concluded that the phosphorescent substance in question emits radiation which penetrates paper opaque to light. He had discovered radioactivity, the spontaneous emmision of radiation by a material. For his discovery of radioactivity, he was awardedthe 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Radioactive Disc Plate

And then....

PIERRE CURIE AND MARIE CURIE

Marie and Pierre Curie

I am the CURIEs!
By the time he met Marie Sklodowska, Pierre Curie had already established an reputation. In 1880, he and his brother Jacques had discovered piezoelectricity whereby physical pressure applied to a crystal resulted in the creation of an electric potential.

I am the CURIEs!
Shortly after his marriage to Marie,they began investigating the phenomenon of radioactivity recently discovered in uranium ore. The term RADIOACTIVITY was coined by Marie Curie.

I am the CURIEs!
She concluded that uranium ore is to be more active than pure uranium so she concluded that more new elements were also radioactive. This led to the discoveries of polonium and radium. For their work on radioactivity, the Curies got 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics.

I am the CURIEs!
Pierre was killed three later in an accident while crossing the street in a rainstorm. In his honor, the 1910 Radiology Congress chose Curie as the basic unit of radioactivity: the quantity of radon in equilibrium with one gram of radium (1 Ci=3.7x1010 dps).

I am the CURIEs!
She was awarded again a Nobel Peace Prize for Chemistry for her discoveries of polonium and radium. Marie Curie died July 4, 1934, overtaken by pernicious anemia no doubt caused by years of overwork and radiation exposure.

And lastly....

ERNEST RUTHERFORD

Ernest Rutherford

RUTHERFORD, present!
Considered the Father of Nuclear Physics. He invented the language of radioactivity, the alpha particle, beta particle and proton. He showed that elements such as uranium and thorium became differentb elements through the process of radioactive decay.

RUTHERFORD, present!
He concluded that the atoms mass must be concentrated in a small positively charged nucleus while the electrons inhabit the farthest reaches of the atom. After the death in in 1937, he remains were buried Westminster Abbey near those with Isaac Newton.

Rutherfords Alpha, Beta and Gamma

Activity Check!
Scientist Contribution Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen X-ray

Antoine Henri Becquerel

Radioactivity

Marie Sklodowska Curie

Polonium and Radium

Ernest Rutherford

Alpha, beta and proton, the half life equation or radioactive decay.

Activity Check!
1. How did Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discover the x-ray?
- When Roentgen immediately determined that the fluorescent was caused by invisible rays originating from the partially evacuated glass Hittorf-Crookes tube to study cathode rays. Surprisingly, these mysterious rays penetrated the opaque black paper wrapped around the tube.

Activity Check!
2. How did Henri Becquerel discover radioactivity?
-When the Potassium Uranyl Sulfate which he exposed to sunlight and placed on photographic plates wrapped in black paper. When developed, the plates revealed an image of uranium crystals. After many trials, the image was still strong and clear.

Activity Check!
2. How did Henri Becquerel discover radioactivity?
-When the Potassium Uranyl Sulfate which he exposed to sunlight and placed on photographic plates wrapped in black paper. When developed, the plates revealed an image of uranium crystals. After many trials, the image was still strong and clear.

Activity Check!
2.How did the Curies discover the elemnts radium and polonium?
- When they extracted the uranium ore and they note the residual materials to be more active than pure uranium. She concluded that the ore contained, addition to uranium, new elements that were also radioactive.

Activity Check!
3. Why is Ernest Rutherford considered as the Father of Nuclear Physics?
- Because Rutherford invented the very language to describe the theoretical concepts of atom and the phenomenon of radioactivity. He made also the atomic model.