Radium

She would always say, “Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.” (Lewis, Jone Johnson). She wanted to find something no one else had found and make things no one would ever think about making. Marie Curie was the founder of Radium. Radium is the chemical element of atomic number 88. It is a rare radioactive metal of the alkaline earth series. It was formerly used as a source of radiation for radiotherapy (Bagley, Mary). Marie Curie was born in Warsaw on November 7, 1867. She was

This source I decided to choose to write about is Marie Curie’s “On the Discovery of Radium”. This was a firsthand account by Madame Marie Curie herself when she addressed Vasser College on May 14th 1921. Madame Curie, while discussing her past with the discovery of radium, could have talked about the whole history of her experimentation, but broke it down to a very brief account. I will have to say, that even though it was a short and brief writing, it took longer to read due to the lack of my

elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element." This was and still is a fascinating and remarkable element. Radium has had an intense history of misuse which led to tragic effects on many, but once used properly it has become essential for the treating of certain cancers. Radium has been a controversial element in America’s history but in the end it has proven useful. The focus of this paper will be Radium:

In the early 1900’s radium was “the latest miracle substance” (Hersher & Blum, 2014). Salesmen promised that it extended lifespans, increased sex drive, made women more beautiful, and had many other fantastic effects. The world was infatuated with radium and displayed this by putting it in slews of items including face cream, bread, chocolate, suppositories, toy sets for children, drinking water (as shown in figure 1), toothpaste, watch faces, and many more products. (List from scribal.com, 2007)

would later be her husband. In 1934, Marie Curie died of aplastic anemia caused by the exposure to radiation when she carried test tubes of radium in her pockets and her mobile X-Ray units during World War I. Marie curie made many contributions to

Radium Girls The infamous ‘Radium Girls’ disaster stemmed from one of the most influential scientific discoveries of the late 19th century; the element of Radium. French chemists Marie and Pierre Curie first reported the discovery of Radium in 1898 (Sutera, 2013, p. 1) when they found it embedded within small amounts of Uranium Ore (Carter, 1 Paragraph 5). Marie and Pierre were surprised to note that this amazing new element glowed in the dark (Carter, 2007, p. 1). Little did the French scientists

benefitted society by discovering elements radium and polonium which is used to help cancer treatments, opening doors for women by giving them power by being an accomplished female scientist, and creating interest in the field of atomic physics/chemistry which led to

fascinated by these rays, took to studying this interesting phenomenon herself. As a result of these studies, she discovered an entirely new field of science, and coined the term “Radioactivity.” She also discovered two new elements, polonium and radium. This lead to the discoveries of new elements by other scientists. The next year, 1899, André Debierne discovered actinium. In just a few more years, there became a global race to element discovery. “It was a fruitful pursuit, to which we owe mesothorium

NAME: Marie Curie (born Maria Salomea Sklodowska) BORN: 7th November 1867 FROM: Warsaw, Poland DIED: 4th of July 1934 DISCOVERIES: She was credited with the discovery of Radium and Polonium (named after her own country of Poland). AWARDS: Some of the awards she received included Nobel Prizes for Physics (1903), Chemistry (1911) and also the Benjamin Franklin Medal from the American Philosophical Society in 1921. Marie Curies studies put her at the front of the “nuclear

Introduction: After radium was discovered in 1898 by the Curies, it quickly became a popular cure for cancer, as well as other common diseases. It became a health tonic for many people, and it was used in many everyday products such as food, cosmetics, paint, and even toothpaste. Radium was then commonly used in watches to make the dials glow in the dark. However, to get these fine numbers on the watch faces, the young girls who would paint them would lick the radium covered brushes for a fine