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From: c160-3ay@ucbzooey.BERKELEY.EDU (Ranjit Bhatnagar)
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: temperature & radioactive decay
Message-ID: <10583@ucbvax.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 8-Oct-85 03:19:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.10583
Posted: Tue Oct  8 03:19:59 1985
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Reply-To: c160-3ay@ucbzooey.BERKELEY.EDU (Ranjit Bhatnagar)
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***

Sorry I didn't F)ollowup to the previous message- my machine doesn't support
that.

I was just reading about Marie Curie in the book From X-Rays to Quarks:
Modern Physicists and their discoveries by Emilio Segre and...

     "The Curies themselves investigated whether heating or cooling a sample
     would increase or decrease its radioactivity-- chemistry suggested
     such an experiment-- but nothing happened.  They also tried to compress
     their sample, but nothing they did would alter its radioactivity.  It
     was a great mystery.  In fact, the decay rate of radioactive elements
     was not altered until after World War II, and then by subtle chemical
     influences in which C. Wiegand and I used the understanding of the
     nucleus accumulated over the previous decade."

I don't know WHY temperature does not alter radioactivity- but it was
interesting to read about it, especially in historical perspective.
(By the way, I recommend this book, if you're interested in the history
of physics- it's not comprehensive but it is fun to read.  There is a
sequel, 'From Falling Bodies to Radio Waves.'  Published by W.H.Freeman.

....Ranjit