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radioactive isotope: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As radioisotope • radioactive nuclide • radionuclide

Did You Know?

  • Radioactive isotopes possess an unstable recipe of neutrons and protons.
  • Radioactive isotopes stabilize themselves over time by shedding radioactive energy in a process called radioactive decay.
  • Radioactive isotopes may occur naturally or be artificially produced.

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Key People

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Harold C. Urey
American chemist
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Frédéric Joliot-Curie
French chemist and physicist
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Irène Joliot-Curie
French chemist
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Friedrich Adolf Paneth
Austrian chemist