The dawn of radiochemistry

Chemical research on radioactivity started in 1898. That year, three short key Notes by the Curies reawakened the topic of uranic rays discovered two years earlier by Becquerel. The discoveries of polonium and radium were milestones in the history of nuclear sciences. The exegesis of the Notes reveals the progress and processes which ineluctably led within a few months to the announcement of the existence of elements in amounts invisible at that time. (author)