Alphabetical Index Index by Birth Year
Radium 1898-1998
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Radium is a chemical element with symbol Ra and atomic number 88.
All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,
which has a half-life of 1600 years.
Radium, in the form of radium chloride, was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898.
Marie Curie used pitchblende, processing tons of it herself, as the source material for her isolation of radium in 1898.
The type locality is the historic mining and spa town known as Joachimsthal,
the modern day Jáchymov, on the Czech side of the mountains.
2017 J. Giesen