The field of radioanalytical chemistry was originally developed by Marie Curie with contributions by Ernest Rutherford and Frederick Soddy.  They developed chemical separation and radiation measurement techniques on terrestrial radioactive substances.  During the twenty years that followed 1897 the concepts of radionuclides was born.  Since Curie's time, applications of radioanalytical chemistry have proliferated.  Modern advances in nuclear and radiochemistry research have allowed practitioners to apply chemistry and nuclear procedures to elucidate nuclear properties and reactions, used radioactive substances as tracers, and measure radionuclides in many different types of samples.
The importance of radioanalytical chemistry spans many fields including chemistry, physics, medicine, pharmacology, biology, ecology, hydrology, geology, forensics, atmospheric sciences, health protection, archeology, and engineering.  Applications include: forming and characterizing new elements, determining the age of materials, and creating radioactive reagents for specific tracer use in tissues and organs.  The ongoing goal of radioanalytical researchers is to develop more radionuclides and lower concentrations in people and the environment.