Radioactivity
A History of a Mysterious Science
by Marjorie C. Malley
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Radioactivity
“The 1896 discovery of invisible uranium rays dramatically changed physics and chemistry as well as the lives of future generations,” writes Marjorie Malley. Radioactivity masterfully proves her point as it whisks us from the pioneering work of Henri Becquerel and the Curies into the nuclear era, and shows how fields as diverse as geology, biology, and warfare were altered by the new findings.
Mysterious from the start, radioactivity attracted a slew of researchers who struggled to understand its nature. What caused certain atoms, such as uranium and thorium, to give off invisible, penetrating rays? Where did the energy come from? As Malley shows, scientists in many countries, but especially in laboratories in Paris, Manchester, and Vienna, unraveled the details of radioactive transformations.
The excitement spilled over to the general public, which fueled a craze for health-related “radium cures” and other quackery. More seriously, the medical community harnessed radioactivity to develop novel treatments for cancer. The phenomenon also gave archaeologists new methods for dating artifacts, and meteorologists an explanation for the conductivity of air.
Perhaps radioactivity’s most dramatic consequence has been the transformation of warfare. In 1938, when Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch studied some results from Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman, they determined that a uranium nucleus could split into two pieces, releasing large amounts of energy in a process Frisch called “fission.” Our modern world of nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons is a direct result.
Based in large part on the author’s original research, Radioactivity will deepen your appreciation of a scientific discovery that changed the world.
Hardcover : 280 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press ( August 18, 2011 )
Item #: 13-427233
ISBN: 9780199766413
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.25 inches
Product Weight: 16.0 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
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