A first conflict in the young science of radiochemistry arose more than a century ago when the discovery of polonium by Pierre (1859–1906) and Marie Curie (1867–1934) was questioned. This article recounts the doubts about the existence of this new radioelement and the ensuing arguments. The role of polonium in nuclear sciences and its recent appearance in the media in a mysterious poisoning case are briefly evoked.
Adloff et al. (Thu,) studied this question.