1870's autoradiograph??

Members may post files they wish to share here.
Post Reply
User avatar
Richard Hull
Moderator
Posts: 14992
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2001 9:44 am
Real name: Richard Hull

1870's autoradiograph??

Post by Richard Hull »

Thanks here to Scott Fusare who discovered this and forwarded it to me.

Attached is an out-take from an 1870 book on Phosphorescence.
Note* This entire book can be downloaded and printed off Google Book Search.

The book deals with anything that glowed in nature as a phosphorescence. (not strictly true by today's standards)

The cool thing is that long prior to Becquerel's discovery of Radioactivity, Another researcher produced auto radiographs from uranic compounds, but wrongly attributed the action to the storing and re-emission of light. Much as Becquerel first claimed x-ray emission from uranics due to sunlight activation.

Becquerel would later pick up the work in his attempt to see if the newly discovered X-rays were emitted from any phosphors or phosphorescent materials. The key here is Becquerel did produce an "object penetrating autoradiograph" where as the researcher in 1870 did not, but did make an autoradiograph, nonetheless.

Becquerel, for a few weeks, did claim to have x-rays emanating from Uranic salts. Many of the earliest researchers in radioactivity made many wrong proclamations in the rush to publish first, but all was straightend out to a degree by 1900 as all realized this radioactivity from uranium and thorium was a whole new animal.

Becquerel modified his stance on x-rays from phosphors and soon dropped from the field once it was shown that phosphors, themselves were not the source of the radiation. (his family specialty as chemists was phosphors.)

Richard Hull
Attachments
phos.pdf
(225.83 KiB) Downloaded 332 times
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Post Reply

Return to “Files”