Half-life and Decay — Key Discoveries

Key Discoveries

Discovery of Radioactivity (Henri Becquerel)

1896

Becquerel's accidental discovery of radioactivity while studying uranium salts laid the groundwork for understanding nuclear decay. He observed that uranium compounds…

Identification of Alpha, Beta, Gamma Rays (Ernest Rutherford)

1899-1903

Rutherford, through a series of experiments, identified and characterized the three main types of radiation emitted during radioactive decay: alpha, beta, and gamma rays. His work…

Theory of Radioactive Disintegration (Rutherford and Soddy)

1902-1903

Rutherford and Frederick Soddy proposed the revolutionary theory that radioactivity is a process where atoms spontaneously change from one element to another. They introduced the…