Adventures of Radiochemistry

This talk will briefly discuss the origins of the field of radiochemistry (as opposed to nuclear chemistry) from Madame Curie’s “chemistry of the imponderables – Ra and Po: 100 years of radioactivity” to its rapid expansion during the Manhattan Project (Coryell & Sugarman’s “good books”: “The Analytical Chemistry of the Manhattan Project”). It will examine why radiochemistry is inconvenient but indispensable in the measurement of alpha and beta emitting radionuclides. It then will cover a selection of radiochemical topics from the speaker’s experience such as “The rare earth elements as environmental tracers”, “The Metrology of Plutonium from kilograms to femtograms”, “Fukushima Fallout at SRS”, and “Lutathera – Nuclear Medicine ‐ Targeted Radiotherapy with Lu‐177”.