ScienceJuly 17, 2026

radiochemist

RAY-dee-oh-kem-ist

Definition

A scientist who specializes in the study and application of chemistry involving radioactive materials, such as the isolation and analysis of radioisotopes.

Etymology

The word is a hybrid formation combining the Latin-derived 'radio' (referring to radioactivity) and the Greek-derived 'chemist' (from alchemy or 'khemeia').

In the news

The article uses the term to describe Ellen Gleditsch, a scientist who specialized in radioactive materials and worked within the research environment established by Marie Curie.

Marie Curie and her husband Pierre spent nearly four years boiling down seven tonnes of pitchblende in a leaky Paris shed with no ventilation to isolate one-tenth of a gram of radium chloride, and the notebooks she kept during those years are still so radioacti

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ScienceBlog.com

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