100 Glowing in Ottawa Evan Kuzukas Radium was first discovered in 1898 by Marie and Pierre Curie. They had noticed that pitchblende, an ore containing uranium, was more radioactive than pure uranium. They hypothesized that there must be an undiscovered radioactive element in this ore. Eventually they discovered two new radioactive elements: polonium and radium, and isolated radium.1 This earned the couple the 1903 Nobel Prize. The news of radium soon spread around the globe and because of little understanding of radiation, radium was soon sold as a cure-all. There were radium waters, tonics, and pills, radium spas and clinics, radium lingerie, jock straps, chocolates, and even radium suppositories. Radium was also used to treat cancer after it was discovered that focused radiation could destroy tumors.2 One of radium’s most interesting properties is its light blue glow, known as Cherenkov radiation.3 Radiation, when combined with the proper other materials, can also induce fluorescence4. This discovery was soon put to use in making watches, alarm clocks, and dials for airplanes that glowed in the dark.5 Companies sprang up around the country to take advantage of this new market. The Fox River valley’s own little town of Ottawa became home to one of the biggest of these companies, the Radium Dial Company. The Radium Dial Company hired hundreds of 1 Alan Chodos and Jennifer Ouellette, “December 1898: The Curies Discover Radium,” American Physical Society (American Physical Society, 2004), https://www.aps.org/pOublications/apsnews/200412/history.cfm. 2 Elan Lui, “The History of Radium,” The history of radium (Stanford University, March 23, 2021), http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2021/ph241/lui2/. 3 Sengupta P. 2000. Classical Electrodynamics. 1st ed. New Delhi: New Age International. 4 Richter, Elizabeth, "The Radium Dial Painters: Workers’ Rights, Scientific Testing, and the Fight for Humane Treatment" (2018). Departmental Honors Projects. 74. https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/dhp/74 5 “Radioactivity in Antiques,” EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), accessed December 11, 2022, https://www.epa.gov/radtown/radioactivity-antiques.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjg3OTMy