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Whose discovery revealed radioactivity?

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Quick Answer

Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity in 1896, and Marie and Pierre Curie went on to explain and expand the field.

The Full Story

Radioactivity was first discovered in 1896 by the French physicist Henri Becquerel, who found that uranium salts gave off mysterious rays that could fog a photographic plate. Marie and Pierre Curie then took up the study, coining the term radioactivity and discovering the new elements polonium and radium. The three shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics for this work. Marie Curie later won a second Nobel, in Chemistry, becoming the first person to win Nobels in two different sciences.

Key Facts

1.Becquerel discovered radioactivity in 1896
2.The Curies discovered polonium and radium
3.They shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics

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"Whose Work Uncovered Radioactivity? Becquerel and the Curies"