​Who among the following scientists discovered the element radium?

Correct option is B

The correct answer is: (b) Marie Curie

Explanation:

• Marie Curie, along with her husband Pierre Curie, discovered the radioactive element Radium in 1898.

• They isolated radium from pitchblende (uranium ore) while researching radioactivity.

• Radium played a crucial role in the development of nuclear physics and cancer treatment (radiotherapy).

• Marie Curie was awarded theNobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 for her work on radium and polonium.

Information Booster:

• Radium’s atomic number is 88, symbol Ra, and it belongs to the alkaline earth metal group.

• Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences (Physics & Chemistry).

• Radium glows in the dark due to its radioactive properties.

• Curie coined the term “radioactivity”.

• Radium was used in luminous paints, though later discontinued due to health risks.

• Pitchblende was also the source of another element she discovered: Polonium (named after Poland).

Additional Information:

• Dmitri Mendeleev: Proposed the Periodic Table in 1869 but did not discover any radioactive elements.

• J.J. Thomson: Discovered the electron in 1897 using a cathode ray tube experiment.

• Wilhelm Roentgen: Discovered X-rays in 1895 and received the first Nobel Prize in Physics (1901