By 1899, scientific studies had established that matter is divided into char­acteristic atoms and that electrically charged components of these atoms can be ripped off and sent flying through a vacuum. These tiny, invisible components, later to be named electrons, behave as predicted by the mathematical models formulated by Maxwell and Faraday. The flight of an electron through the vacuum deflects in a predictable trajectory by an imposed magnetic or electrical field. Furthermore, Maxwell and his groundbreaking set of equations had predicted that a changing magnetic field causes an electrical field and that a changing electrical field causes a magnetic field. Strike a high-voltage spark across two electrodes and the burst of an electrical field will cause a magnetic field, which causes another electrical field, which causes another magnetic field, and so on, as a wave of electrical and magnetic fields radiates through space at the speed of light, alternating between electricity and magnetism at a frequency that is proportional to its energy of creation.

The gradual discovery and confirmation of this electromagnetic wave phenomenon would prove monumental, as it became evident that light itself was a manifestation of this wave effect. A wave of lesser energy would be exploited for radio communications, and waves of greater energy would be used as X-rays for medical diagnosis. These interesting scientific discoveries would spin off into successful commercial products in the new century, but the scientists would continue to push open the

door of discovery, ever curious concerning the nature of matter and find­ing that solving a puzzle of the natural world simply uncovered more puzzles. Scientists in Germany and France found that there were other ways to derive radiation without direct application of the Maxwell equa­tions. Some heavy elements, such as uranium and the newly discovered polonium and radium, would dismantle themselves on the atomic level, emitting even more powerful forms of radiation.