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.
Question: What was the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded for? Answer: Henri Becquerel was awarded half of the prize for his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity. Marie and Pierre Curie were awarded half the prize for their research on the radiation phenomena discovered by Becquerel.