Chemistry: A Volatile History to investigate. Marie Curie began her investigations by testing a uranium ore called pitchblende with an electrometer. She discovered it was four times more radioactive than pure uranium, and wondered if this was due to the presence of an even more radioactive element in the pitchblende. Curie began stockpiling tonnes of pitchblende, then in the most basic of workshops with primitive equipment she undertook a multitude of complex and dangerous procedures in an attempt to isolate this new element. In the event, Curie discovered two new elements, polonium named after her native Poland and radium. Whilst these were naturally occurring
Uraninite Uraninite Uraninite, formerly pitchblende, is a radioactive, uranium-rich mineral and ore with a chemical composition that is largely UO, but due to oxidation the mineral typically contains variable proportions of UO. Additionally, due to radioactive decay, the ore also contains oxides of lead and trace amounts of helium. It may also contain thorium and rare earth elements. Uraninite used to be known as pitchblende (from "pitch", because of its black color, and "blende", a term (otherwise meaning "shade" or "screen") used by German miners to denote minerals whose density suggested metal content, but whose exploitation, at the time they were