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radioactivity: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As radioactive decay • nuclear disintegration • disintegration

Photos

decay of beryllium-7
decay of hafnium-180
decay of K0 meson
Figure 4: The decay of a particle of mass M into two particles the sum of whose rest masses is less than M (see text).
Diagram showing the sequence of uranium nucleus fission after being struck by a neutron: the nucleus absorbs the neutron, deforms, splits into fragments, releases more neutrons and gamma rays, and emits beta particles as the fragments decay. Labels identify neutrons, protons, beta particles, and gamma rays, with accompanying explanatory text.
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Key People

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Irène Joliot-Curie
French chemist
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Frédéric Joliot-Curie
French chemist and physicist
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford
British physicist
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi
Italian-born American scientist
Marie Curie
Marie Curie
Polish-born French physicist
Becquerel, Henri
Henri Becquerel
French physicist
Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn
German chemist
Pierre Curie
Pierre Curie
French chemist
James Chadwick
James Chadwick
British physicist
Zhores Aleksandrovich Medvedev with his twin brother, Roy
Zhores Medvedev
Soviet biologist and dissident
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Henry Moseley
British physicist
Geiger counter
Hans Geiger
German physicist
Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner
Austrian physicist
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Frederick Soddy
British chemist
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Bertram Borden Boltwood
American chemist and physicist