https://www.earthmagazine.org/tags/curie/ Recent content in Curie on EARTH Magazine Hugo en-US American Geosciences Institute. All rights reserved. Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/benchmarks-henri-becquerel-discovers-radioactivity-february-26-1896/ Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/benchmarks-henri-becquerel-discovers-radioactivity-february-26-1896/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/benchmarks-henri-becquerel-discovers-radioactivity-february-26-1896/i-44f-7db-2-1c.jpg" alt="A photographic plate made by Henri Becquerel shows the effects of exposure to radioactivity. A metal Maltese cross, placed between the plate and radioactive uranium salt, left a clearly visible shadow on the plate. Henri Becquerel" loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>A photographic plate made by Henri Becquerel shows the effects of exposure to radioactivity. A metal Maltese cross, placed between the plate and radioactive uranium salt, left a clearly visible shadow on the plate. Henri Becquerel</figcaption> </figure> <p>February 26, 1896, was an overcast day in Paris &mdash; and that presented a problem for French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel. Becquerel was hoping to demonstrate a link between minerals that glow when exposed to strong light and a new type of electromagnetic radiation called X-rays. The weather thwarted this experiment &mdash; but that failure inadvertently produced an entirely new discovery: natural radioactivity.</p>