Which element did Marie and Pierre Curie discover in 1898?

Concept

Scientific discoveries are attributed by matching an entity with the historical record of who first identified it and when.

Radioactivity research at the end of the nineteenth century led to the identification of new elements in pitchblende.

Application

In 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie announced the discovery of radium, along with polonium, through their investigation of highly radioactive pitchblende residues. Therefore, among the offered elements, radium is the documented discovery associated with Madame Curie.

Contrast

• Uranium had been identified earlier by Martin Heinrich Klaproth in 1789.

• Thorium had been discovered by Jöns Jacob Berzelius in 1828.

• Francium was discovered later by Marguerite Perey in 1939.

Cross-check

The Nobel Prize record for Marie Curie specifically credits the discovery of the elements radium and polonium; only radium appears among these options.

Result: Radium.