8 Responses. > 1  the Moon takes an elliptical path around the Earth. The planets make nearly elliptical orbits around the Sun, close enough for reasonable approximations, but the Moonâs Orbit around the Earth is sufficiently influenced by the Sun that it follows a path detectably different from an ellipse.
Quick Answer. In 1896, French scientist Antoine Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity which was an early contribution to atomic theory. He discovered this phenomenon while experimenting with uranium and a photographic plate. Continue Reading.
Nuclear reactors produce energy from uranium through an atomic fission reactionâthat is, radioactive atoms are split apart and the energy that is released in that fission is harnessed to produce heat and electricity.uclear energy was discovered accidentally by French physicist Henri Becquerel, when he found that photographic plates stored near uranium compounds reacted as though they had been exposed to light in a way similar to X-rays.