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A scientific discovery of great significance need not lead inexorably to widespread and more penetrating investigation. Immediately after Becquerel's discovery of radioactivity and his study of some physical properties connected to the phenomenon there was very little interest evident among his colleagues. In fact, radioactivity lay essentially moribund until the Curies began their investigations using a new and fertile approach. The story of the two years between Becquerel's discovery and Marie Curie's first research is illustrative of the manner in which a major physical phenomenon may remain neglected, even after it was first observed, because of the confusion of related studies and a failure to recognize its relevant properties.

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This year is the centennial of the Nobel Prize in Physics shared by Henri Becquerel and the Curies for their pioneering work on radioactivity. But Marie Curie’s contribution to the medical use of x rays is not widely known.

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