Radioactivity and radiation chemistry of water

The chemical changes of water induced by radiation, first observed on aqueous solutions of radium salts, were reported less than five years after the discovery of radioactivity. The importance of the radiolytic behaviour of water was progressively recognized in various domains of nuclear science and technology. More recent interest concerns the roles of radioactivity, radiation and water in chemical evolution processes because of their ubiquitous presence on the Earth and in Space. (orig.)