Ingesting radium: an outrageously dangerous job
Nowadays we're all aware of the insane dangers of radioactivity. So, if you
came across a job description asking you to "swallow small amounts of a highly toxic and radioactive substance all day
long, 5 days a week", you certainly wouldn't apply, right?
As crazy as it sounds, this job used to exist! Women in the 1910s painted
watch dials with a special radium-based paint that glowed in the
dark.
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| Unknown author / Public domain |
These women kept their brushes pointy by constantly licking them, without
knowing that the radium they were bringing into their bodies was extremely
dangerous!
If you want to learn about the Radium Girls, the tragic health effects they
faced and their brave fight for justice, the following book is a must
read!
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The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
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Related videos, films TV series
If reading isn't your thing or if you want to complement your learning with other media, do check out the
following recommendations!
1. The Radium Girls film Trailer --> film to be released later in 2020, postponed due to COVID
Original video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RxnIriKLRk by Movieclips Indie
2. Radioactive
Watch Rosamund Pike starring as Marie Curie, the famous Nobel Laureate and discoverer of Radium.Original video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT5g0U2WvQ0 by StudiocanalUK
3. Chernobyl TV Series
Learn about the terrible nuclear disaster that took place in the Ukrainian
part of the USSR in 1986, releasing a radioactive cloud that eventually
expanded to other European countries.
Original video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9APLXM9Ei8&t=5s by HBO
4. The Fukushima nuclear disaster
On March 2011 Japan was hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami. The
Fukushima nuclear power plant was hit badly and ended up with several dangerous explosions and
nuclear meltdowns.
This video from The Infographics Show does some pretty good explaining of what actually happened!
Original video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mVKVeU75ZA
Related Books
- Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium by Lucy Jane Santos
- Fukushima nuclear disaster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster
During 20s in US there was even an energy drink brand, containing radium: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor
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