Selection of the isotope concept for a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough award in 2013 presented both the dilemma of selecting the most appropriate publication to honor and the opportunity for reflection on the nature of this discovery and of scientific discovery more generally. Several findings in the early years of the twentieth centuries led Frederick Soddy to introduce the term isotope (a word suggested by classics scholar Margaret Todd) for varieties of the same element that have different atomic masses. The public birthday of the term is well established: it was first published in the Dec. 4, 1913, issue of Nature. The public debut of the concept, however, is much more difficult to date. Plausible candidates will be reviewed, from the recognition of distinct but chemically inseparable 'radioelements,' to the elucidation of the pathways of radioactive decay collectively organized under the law of radioactive displacement, to the adoption of atomic number rather than atomic weight as the organizing principle of the periodic table.

Isotopes: Identifying the breakthrough publication

248th National Meeting (2014)

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