 Soon after the discovery of radium in 1898 by Pierre and Marie Curie, there was speculation in whether the radiation could be used for therapy in the same way as that from x-rays.The physiological effect of radium was first observed in 1900 by Otto Walkhoff, and later confirmed by what famously known as the "Becquerel burn".In 1901, Henri Becquerel had placed a tube of radium in a waistcoat pocket where it had remained for several hours; a week or two after which there was severe inflammation of his skin underneath where the radium had been kept.