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thingamabobbseys

a miscellaneous assortment of things

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  • 9 Ways People Used Radium Before We Understood the Risks - Mental Floss

    Radium was discovered by Marie Curie and her husband Pierre in 1898. In 1903, the Royal Academy of Sciences awarded Marie and Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel the Nobel Prize in Physics, making Marie the first woman to win the prize. Later, in 1911, she would win her second Nobel for isolating radium, discovering another element (polonium), and for her research into the new phenomenon of radioactivity, a word she coined herself.
    By 1910, radium was manufactured synthetically in the U.S. But before the effects of radiation exposure were well understood, radium ended up in a lot of crazy places for its purported magical healing properties and its glow-in-the-dark novelty.
    1. in chocolate
    2. in water
    3. in toys and nightlights
    4. in toothpaste
    5. in cosmetics
    6. in heating pads and suppositories
    7. in the treatment of impotence
    8. in health spas
    9. in clocks and watches

    Tagged: Mental Floss chocolate did you know history lists marie curie radium trivia facts

    Posted on October 10, 2012

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