The radiation linked to uranium natural radioactivity enlightened by Abel Niepce long time before Henri Becquerel

Abel Niepce was rarely mentioned during the celebration of the centenary of the radioactivity discovery.This discovery, supposed due to chance alone, is entirely attributed to Henri Becquerel. But Abel Niepce who made the first observation of radiation from uranium with the impression of a photographic plate, but without giving it meaning. This is a slow process which in forty years, from an observation misunderstood by Abel Niepce to its interpretation by Frederick Soddy, through the experiments of Henri Becquerel and thanks to developments in other knowledge (electron, X-rays) has led to a scientific progress known under the term of radioactivity, name given by Marie Slodowska-Curie. (N.C.)