Editing Tritium (section)

== History ==
Tritium was first detected in 1934 by [[Ernest Rutherford]], [[Mark Oliphant]] and [[Paul Harteck]] after bombarding [[deuterium]] with deuterons (deuterium nuclei). Deuterium is another isotope of hydrogen, which occurs naturally with an abundance of 0.015%.<ref>
{{cite journal
 |last1=Oliphant   |first1=M.L. |author1-link=Mark Oliphant
 |last2=Harteck    |first2=P.   |author2-link=Paul Harteck
 |last3=Rutherford |first3=L.   |author3-link=Ernest Rutherford
 |year=1934
 |title=Transmutation effects observed with heavy hydrogen
 |journal=Nature
 |volume=133  |issue=3359  |page=413
 |doi=10.1038/133413a0 |bibcode=1934Natur.133..413O
 |s2cid=4078529 |url=http://www.chemteam.info/Chem-History/Rutherford-1934a/Rutherford-1934a.html
 |doi-access=free
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite journal
 |last1=Oliphant   |first1=M.L.E. |author1-link=Mark Oliphant
 |last2=Harteck    |first2=P.     |author2-link=Paul Harteck
 |last3=Rutherford |first3=L.     |author3-link=Ernest Rutherford
 |year=1934
 |title=Transmutation Effects Observed with Heavy Hydrogen
 |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
 |volume=144  |issue=853  |page=692
 |bibcode=1934RSPSA.144..692O
 |doi=10.1098/rspa.1934.0077  |doi-access=free
}}
</ref> Their experiment could not isolate tritium, which was first accomplished in 1939 by [[Luis Walter Alvarez|Luis Alvarez]] and [[Robert Cornog]], who also realized tritium's radioactivity.<ref>
{{cite journal
 |last1=Alvarez |first1=Luis   |author1-link=Luis Walter Alvarez
 |last2=Cornog  |first2=Robert |author2-link=Robert Cornog
 |year=1939
 |title=Helium and Hydrogen of Mass 3
 |journal=Physical Review
 |volume=56  |issue=6  |page=613
 |bibcode=1939PhRv...56..613A  |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.56.613
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 |last1=Alvarez |first1=Luis W.
 |last2=Trower  |first2=W. Peter 
 |year=1987
 |title=Discovering Alvarez: Selected works of Luis W. Alvarez, with commentary by his students and colleagues
 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/discoveringalvar0000alva/page/26 26]–30
 |publisher=University of Chicago Press
 |isbn=978-0-226-81304-2
 |url=https://archive.org/details/discoveringalvar0000alva  
 |url-access=registration
}}
</ref> [[Willard Libby]] recognized in 1954 that tritium could be used for [[radiometric dating]] of water and [[wine]].<ref>
{{cite journal
 |last1=Kaufman |first1=Sheldon
 |last2=Libby   |first2=W.
 |year=1954
 |title=The natural distribution of tritium
 |journal=Physical Review
 |volume=93  |issue=6  |page=1337
 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.93.1337 |bibcode=1954PhRv...93.1337K
}}
</ref>