Becquerel

☢️ Sometimes, bad weather is the best thing that can happen to science. In 1896, French physicist Henri Becquerel was trying to see if sunlight could make uranium salts emit X-rays. But Paris was gray and overcast for days, so he tucked his uranium and photographic plates into a dark desk drawer to wait for the sun.

Days later, he developed the plates anyway—and was stunned. Even in total darkness, the uranium had "fogged" the plates, leaving a clear silhouette. He had stumbled upon , proving that energy could come from inside an atom without any external help. Did you know? Henri Becquerel and the Discovery of Radioactivity becquerel