Instrumental People and Discoveries
However they proved even more important for physicists as it confirmed the theory of James Clerk Maxwell, that someday electromagnetic waves would be found that had much shorter wavelengths than visible light. Which in turn suggested a whole new range of invisible energies might exist in the universe. Also, X-rays gave physicists a new method with which to probe the structure of matter as well as a way to examine the effect of energy on an atom.
Becquerel, a French physicist, was the son and grandson of physicists. For three generations the Becquerel family had studied phosphorescence, or in other words, the ability for some substances to continue to glow after being exposed to light. Becquerel was also familiar with the work of Roentgen who on December 22 1895, "photographed" his wife's hand, revealing the unmistakable image of her skeleton, complete with wedding ring. Roentgen's wife had placed her hand in the path of X-rays, which Roentgen created by beaming an electron ray energy source onto a cathode tube. In 1896, Antoine Henri Becquerel too began experimenting with X-rays. Becquerel chose to work with potassium uranyl sulfate, K2UO2(S)4)2, following up on Rontgen's work. He exposed it to sunlight and placed some photographic plates wrapped in black paper on it. When developed, the plates revealed an image of the uranium crystals. Becquerel concluded "that the phosphorescent substance in question emits radiation which penetrates paper opaque to light." Initially he believed that it was the sun's energy that was being absorbed by the uranium, which, in turn then emitted X-rays.
Further investigation, on the 26th and 27th of February, was delayed because the skies over Paris were overcast and the uranium-covered plates Becquerel intended to expose to the sun were returned to a drawer. On the first of March, he developed the photographic plates expecting only faint images to appear. To his surprise, the images were clear and strong. This meant that the uranium emitted radiation without an external source of energy such as the sun. Becquerel had discovered radioactivity, the spontaneous emission of radiation by a material. He himself stated to the French Academy of Sciences "There is an emission of rays without apparent cause. The sun has been excluded"
The compound that he used to investigate contained uranium, Becquerel found that the more uranium there was then the more intense the radiation was. From this, he concluded that uranium caused the radiation. He demonstrated that the radiation emitted by uranium were similar to X-rays but could be deflected by a magnetic field and therefore must consist of charged particles. Which meant that X-rays and the "Becquerel rays" he discovered were two different things. Becquerel was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for physics for this.
But two scientists, a husband and wife team were to build on this research immeasurable