Preface
List of Illustrations
Introduction

I. A NEW SCIENCE

Chapter 1. The Beginnings
The Setting
Rays and Radiation
Becquerel's Discovery

Chapter 2. The Curies
Maria Sk odowska
A Consequential Meeting
New Elements!

Chapter 3. Rutherford, Soddy, Particles, and Alchemy?
Rutherford and the Rays
Where did the Energy come from?
Material Rays? Discovery of the Beta Particle
Thorium's Rays
Vanishing Radioactivity
Transmutation!
A Missed Discovery
Reactions
Atomic Energy?
Tragedy
More Rays
The Alpha Particle

Chapter 4. The Radioactive Earth
The Prospectors
How Old is the Earth?
A New Property of Matter?

Chapter 5. Speculations
Early Theories
Radioactivity and Probability
Kinetic Models of the Atom

Chapter 6. Radioactivity and Chemistry
The Rise of Radiochemistry
Radioactive Genealogy
Chemistry of the Imponderable
Inseparable Radioelements
Isotopes
Displacement Laws
The End of the Lines
More Isotopes

Chapter 7. Inside the Atom
Building Blocks
Bombarding Atoms
The Nucleus and the Periodic Table
The Gamma Rays
Theories of the Nucleus

Chapter 8. Sequel
War!
Radioactivity during World War I
From Radioactivity to Nuclear and Particle Physics


II. MEASURING AND USING RADIOACTIVITY

Chapter 9. Methods and Instruments
Crucial Choices
Standardizing the Measures
Innovations
Size, Money, and Machines

Chapter 10. Radioactivity, Medicine, and Life
Unpleasant Surprises
From Burns to Therapy
Rays and other Organisms
Miracle Cure?
Radioactive Spas
Dangers in the Laboratory

Chapter 11. New Industries
Early Industry
Soaring Demand and New Institutions
Paint that Glowed in the Dark
A New Poison
Fission, Bombs, and the Uranium Rush
Radioactivity and the Oil Industry


III. BEYOND THE STORY

Chapter 12. Radioactivity's Prime Movers
Technology, Resources, and Professional Changes
Individuals
Research Groups
Scientific Ideals and Culture
Mentors and Models
Age, Attitudes, and Ambition
Nationalism

Chapter 13. Radioactivity and Timeless Questions: the Quest for Understanding
Models and Theories for Radioactivity
Patterns in Radioactivity's Development
Ideas about Change
Ideas about Matter and Energy
Ideas about Continuity and Discontinuity
Eternal Conundrums

Chapter 14. The Imaginative Appeal of a Discovery
Mythological and Romantic Dimensions of Radioactivity
An Ongoing Task


Appendices

1. Glossary of Rays and Radiations
2. Family Trees for Radioactive Elements
3. Radioactivity's Elusive Cause
4. Nobel Prize Winners Included in this Book
5. Radioactivity's Web of Influence
6. Timeline


Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index