Debierne, Andre Louis

Actinium Ac 1899 (Paris, France) Andre Louis Debierne (French) 307... 

Credit for the discovery of radon is often given to other scientists as well. In 1899, Robert B. Owens announced the presence of a radioactive gas that he named thoron. In 1903, French chemist Andre Louis Debierne (1874-1949) made a similar discovery. He named the gas actinon. Certainly, some credit for the discovery of element 86 can be shared among all these scientists. 

The name comes from the Greek aktis, meaning beam or ray. It was discovered by Andre-Louis Debierne (1874-1949) in 1899 and independently by Fritz Giesel (1852-1927) in 1902. It exists in very small quantities in association with uranium ores. Actinium has few uses outside the laboratory, but its discovery was important for the development of chemistry and physics, as it was one of the materials used to study radioactive decay, since it breaks down into thorium, radium, radon, bismuth, polonium, and isotopes of lead. 

Rutherford of Nelson, New Zealand) distinguishes two types of radioactivity, alpha and beta rays (later known as alpha and beta particles). Erench chemist Andre-Louis Debierne discovers the element actinium. German organic chemist Emil Eischer develops the lock and key hypothesis for enzymes. 

Actinium was discovered in uranium ore residues by Andre-Louis Debierne. Actinium-227 decays by emitting a single alpha particle. Write the nuclear equation for this decay. 

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