Institut du Radium

Most scientists involved in radioactive research had a background in chemistry or physics, and up to World War I little distinction was made between the physical and chemical aspects of radioactive research. As Ruth Sime points out, radioactivity split after the war. In 1917, to give an example, the radioactive section at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut fur Chemie in Berlin-Dahlem split into a physical section (headed by Meitner) and a chemical section (headed by Hahn). In some sense, however, the field retained its unity radiochemistry was kept much alive at the Institut du Radium in Paris, and this expertise helped in the discovery of artificial radioactivity, when phosphorus had to be isolated in three minutes. The subdisciplinary divide was informed by a common interest in radioactive substances. This division did not so much reflect the independence of radiophysics and radiochemistry, as the mutual confidence of their practitioners. As Sime puts it Physicists and chemists collaborated across a pronounced disciplinary divide... they trusted each other s expertise without always understanding each other s limitations . 

With the discovery in 1934 of artificial radionuclides by Fr6d6ric Joliot (1900-1958) and lr6ne Curie (1897-1956) at the Institut du Radium in Paris, the path to radiotherapy was paved as a second effective treatment option for cancer, other than surgical procedures. A prominent example is the irradiation of thyroid carcinoma with iodine-131. 

R. FALCOFF, 0. AUJEAN, J.A. LEWIS,and E. FALCOFF Fondation C irie-Institut du Radium,... 

AUJEAH, Odile, Institut du Radium, Section de Biologie, F75231 Paris Cedex 05, France. 

PALCOPP, Rebeca. Laboratoire Pasteur, Institut du Radium,... 

In fact, this meeting was preceded by another one on changes isotopiques et structure molicu-laire, which took place at the Institut du Radium and was attended by many of the participants of the meeting on the chemical bond, which started just 2 days after its end. 

Institut du radium (1966) Physico-chimie du protactinium. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris... 

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