“Some months ago we discovered that certain light elements emit positrons under the action of alpha particles. Our latest experiments have shown a very striking fact: when an aluminium foil is irradiated on a polonium preparation [alpha ray emitter], the emission of positrons does not cease immediately when the active preparation is removed: the foil remains radioactive and the emission of radiation decays exponentially as for an ordinary radio-element. We observed the same phenomenon with boron and magnesium.”
Quote by Frederic Joliot-Curie
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“[The unreactivity of the noble gas elements] belongs to the surest of experimental results.”
Source: Peace: Writings and Speeches of the Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1971