GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Detailed explanation-1: -When Henri Becquerel investigated the newly discovered X-rays in 1896, it led to studies of how uranium salts are affected by light. By accident, he discovered that uranium salts spontaneously emit a penetrating radiation that can be registered on a photographic plate.

Detailed explanation-2: -French physicist Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity while working on a series of experiments on phosphorescent materials. On 26 February 1986, he placed uranium salts on top of a photographic plate wrapped in black paper. The salts caused a blackening of the plate despite the paper in between.

Detailed explanation-3: -In 1896, Becquerel discovered natural radioactivity. Earlier that year, German physicist, Wilhelm Röntgen discovered x-rays.

Detailed explanation-4: -Although it was Henri Becquerel that discovered the phenomenon, it was his doctoral student, Marie Curie, who named it: radioactivity.

Detailed explanation-5: -Looking for a subject for her doctoral thesis, Marie Curie began studying uranium, which was at the heart of Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity in 1896. The term radioactivity, which describes the phenomenon of radiation caused by atomic decay, was in fact coined by Marie Curie.