The Discovery of Radioactivity: Becquerel, Curie, and Beyond

In 1896, Henri Becquerel discovered that uranium salts emitted invisible, penetrating rays.
His accidental finding came while studying phosphorescence with photographic plates.
Marie and Pierre Curie expanded his work, coining the term radioactivity.
The Curies discovered two new radioactive elements: polonium and radium.
Their groundbreaking research revealed that atoms could spontaneously change.
Early radioactivity studies challenged the belief that atoms were indivisible.
Ernest Rutherford later showed radioactivity came in alpha, beta, and gamma forms.
These discoveries paved the way for nuclear physics and modern medicine.
Marie Curie won two Nobel Prizes, the only person to do so in two sciences.
The legacy of Becquerel and the Curies reshaped science, technology, and our view of matter.