Abstract
THE spontaneous radioactivity of a number of heavy elements has been known for a generation, but it is only within the last decade that attempts to induce radioactivity in stable elements have succeeded. Since the first successful experiments of Curie and Joliot, however, progress has been rapid and radioactive isotopes of the majority of the stable elements have been made. Now that powerful high-voltage plants are available, the quantity in which these artificial radio-elements may be obtained is in some cases comparable with the quantities of natural radio-elements which are available, and the artificial radio-elements are already beginning to compete with the naturally radioactive elements as sources of beta- and gamma-rays for physical purposes, and will probably soon be used on an appreciable scale for medical purposes for which radium is at present in use.
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Neutrons and Radio-Elements and their Biological Applications*. Nature 144, 657–658 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144657a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144657a0