TY - JOUR
T1 - A stable relationship
T2 - isotopes and bioarchaeology are in it for the long haul
AU - Britton, Kate
N1 - I am grateful for the invitation to contribute this piece and for comments on earlier versions, especially from two anonymous reviewers. Thanks are due also to Gundula Müldner, Mike Richards, Michelle Alexander, Jennifer Jones, Joshua Wright and Orsolya Czére. Finally, I should like to acknowledge the isotope archaeology community in the UK and elsewhere, who make for lively conferences and an exciting and inclusive field.
PY - 2017/8
Y1 - 2017/8
N2 - Given their ubiquity in dietary reconstruction, it is fitting that the story of isotopes began with a conversation over dinner. Although coined in scientific literature by Frederick Soddy (1913), the word ‘isotope’ was first conceived by Margaret Todd, a medical doctor (also known as the novelist ‘Graham Travers’, and an all-round gender-stereotype-smasher of their age). In 1912, Soddy and Todd were attending a supper in Glasgow. When talk turned to work, Soddy described the then nameless concept of elements of different masses that occupy the same place in the periodic table. Todd suggested the term ‘isotope’, from the Greek isos (‘same’) + topos (‘place’), and the name stuck (Nicol 1957; Nagel 1982).
AB - Given their ubiquity in dietary reconstruction, it is fitting that the story of isotopes began with a conversation over dinner. Although coined in scientific literature by Frederick Soddy (1913), the word ‘isotope’ was first conceived by Margaret Todd, a medical doctor (also known as the novelist ‘Graham Travers’, and an all-round gender-stereotype-smasher of their age). In 1912, Soddy and Todd were attending a supper in Glasgow. When talk turned to work, Soddy described the then nameless concept of elements of different masses that occupy the same place in the periodic table. Todd suggested the term ‘isotope’, from the Greek isos (‘same’) + topos (‘place’), and the name stuck (Nicol 1957; Nagel 1982).
U2 - 10.15184/aqy.2017.98
DO - 10.15184/aqy.2017.98
M3 - Article
VL - 91
SP - 853
EP - 864
JO - Antiquity
JF - Antiquity
SN - 0003-598X
IS - 358
ER -
