Discovery of Radioactivity:

At the turn of nineteenth century in the year of 1895, scientists throughout the world were excited by the discovery of x-rays through a French physicist W. C. Roentgen. X-rays had the unique property of penetrating the human body and reveal broken bones. Subsequently Henry Becquerel (1896) another French physicist observed the emission of strange radiation from uranium salt. That phenomenon of spontaneous emission of radiation was no RADIOACTIVITY through a scientist couple Pierre Curie and Mme Curie who later discovered two new radioactive elements polonium and radium. During following years natural radioactive decay series were identified and then artificial radioactivity was discovered through Frederic Joliot and Irene Curie who were awarded Nobel Prize in the year 1934. Later in 1942 Enrico Fermi built first nuclear reactor within Chicago (USA) and it paved the way for the production of radioisotopes.

The radioisotopes are today used in a myriad of ways for the benefit of people and society. An important use of radioisotopes is in the field of analytical chemistry which has led its extensive use in nuclear medicine-diagnostic and therapeutic. Radioisotopes have alleviated suffering and prolonged lives of millions of human beings though radioactivity was introduced to the mankind by way atom bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.