Three of the Inuit homelands: Nunavut, Nunavik, and Nunatsiavut, are all located upon the oldest rocks on the planet: the Canadian Shield. The Canadian Shield is the original core of the North American continent.
In the Preface of her book, Our Ice is Vanishing / Sikuvut Nunguliqtuq, Shelley Wright encapsulates the issue: "The Arctic is ruled by ice. For Inuit, it is the platform on which life is lived. But the ice is melting and becoming dangerous. Inuit are silaup aalaruqpalianigata tusaqtittijiit – witnesses and messengers of climate change."
Although the radioactive elements uranium and thorium were discovered early in the history of the elements — 1789 and 1828, respectively, years before the advent of the Periodic Table — radioactivity itself was unknown until 1896 when Henri-Antoine Becquerel (1852-1908) in Paris found that uranium could expose photographic plates, even when protected by black opaque paper. The renowned Marie Curie (1867-1934) promptly made a study of all elements (that were known at that time) and determined that only two were radioactive — uranium and thorium.
In 1789 Lavoisier turned the concept of “element” on its head when he proposed that water was a compound and that hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, sulfur, iron, copper, and 25 other substances were the true elements.
This is a reprint from the November 2013 issue of Chem 13 News
This is a reprint from the February 2015 issue of Chem 13 News.
This is a reprint from the May 2007 issue of Chem 13 News, page 16.
This is a reprint from the September 2007 issue of Chem 13 News.
This is a reprint from the October 2008 issue of Chem 13 News.
This is a reprint from the September 2009 issue of Chem 13 News.