The state of being radioactive, or radioactivity, or the spontaneous emission of radiation by material was discovered by Becquerel, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for this in 1903. He shared the prize with his PhD student Marie Curie and her husband Pierre, both of whom studied radiation. The mysterious rays were originally called Becquerel rays. It was actually the husband and wife team who coined the French word radioactif which they used in a scientific paper in 1898. Due to the excitement of the new discovery, the word radioactive was adopted in English almost immediately.
Initially radioactive emission was regarded as entirely positive. It was part of the advance of science and industry that would bring about great benefits for the population as a whole. But with all the up-side of X-rays, from a very early stage Marie Curie warned about the potential downside of radioactive radiation. In this end it killed her.
Parallel to the scientific use, radioactive was initially used as a synonym for hyperactivity, as somthing have almost eternal energy. With ongoing scientific studies, radioactive increasingly became connected with atomic energy and the negative side of radioactive debris from atomic explosions. After the atomic bomb was used, radioactive has also been used to describe an explosive atmosphere in business or politics.
Did you like the article? Then please like and share it on Facebook, tweet it on Twitter or add it in Google+.
