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Henri Becquerel conducted several experiments that lead to the discovery of radioactivity. An example of a radioactive element would be Uranium.
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William Rontgen produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in wavelength range. This would later be coined as X-Rays by Marie Curie.
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Both Nobel Prize winners (Marie holding the record with the only person to receive two Nobel Prizes in two different subjects-Physics and Chemistry), Marie & Pierre Curie worked together to discover the Polonium (named after their home country, Poland) and Radium. They went on to study the study these radioactive elements in the latter part of their lives.
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Geiger developed an electrical device to click when hit with an alpha particle. The device is called Geiger Counter. This helped improve the precision of alpha particle experiments for decades to come.
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James Chadwick, and English physicist, discovered the proton. The discovery of the neutron lead to the United States starting serious atomic bomb research.
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Szilard discovered the nuclear chain reaction. In 1939, Szilard and Enrico Fermi patented the idea of a nuclear reactor.
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Szilard, L wrote the letter for Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project.
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Oppenheimer,Teller & Ulam joined the Manhattan Project. Teller and Ulman had previously worked together and formed the Teller-Ulam design of thermonuclear weapons. Oppenheimer quoted the Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds" after the Manhattan Project was completed.
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Created the Proton Accelerator, Giant Bubble Chamber (used to discover subatomic particles),measured the magnetic movement of neutrons, and developed IFF radar beacons. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to Physics.
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Libby developed radiocarbon dating which revolutionized, archeology, paleontology, and nuclear chemistry.
