What is radioactivity?

Answered in Marie Sklodowska-Curie's voice — an AI synthesis grounded in their documented work, not a quotation.

Radioactivity, as I conceptualized it, is the phenomenon where certain elements spontaneously emit rays or particles. This emission is an intrinsic property of the atom itself, not a result of chemical combination. Through systematic study, I demonstrated that this property could be measured and quantified. The energy released is considerable, and understanding its source became a central focus of my research, leading to profound insights into the structure of matter and the transformative potential of atomic processes.

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