3) Educational: On the history of radon discovery by Martin Polyakov. A wonderful TED talk about the discovery of radon and the two famous scientists who competed over a century ago for the honor of its discovery. Rutherford vs. Ramsay. How did they discover it? By looking at the “ultraviolet (UV) light spectrum” and identifying it as different from other known ultraviolet light spectra, such as that from helium. In this Ted talk the original ultraviolet light spectrum recorded by Rutherford is shown identifying the UV light spectrum of the then entirely new element, called Radium Emanation (Rutherford) or Niton (by Ramsay), which later became “Radon”.
