The
Discovery of Uranium
German chemist, Martin Heinrich Klaproth, announced the discovery of a new element in 1789. He had been analysing a mineral called pitchblende and discovered in it a black powder. This powder was incorrectly called uranium, but was actually one of its oxides. It was not until 1841 that French scientist, Eugene Péligot isolated the pure metallic element. In 1896, the French physicist Antoine Becquerel discovered the radioactive properties of uranium. Marie and Pierre Curie, the French/Polish scientists, continued to explore radioactivity, and in 1898 found that it was associated with atoms. They also discovered two new radioactive elements, polonium and radium, from pitchblende.
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