Member-only story
History | Women | Science
The Dark Times When Women and Watches Glowed
‘Beauty is pain’ proved to be true when the shining Radium Girls began to quite literally, fall apart. They would go to see a dentist who would try to fix the pain in their teeth and the whole jaw would crumble, “not by an operation, but merely by putting his fingers in her mouth and lifting it out.”
Marie and Piere Curie Discover Radium
Marie Curie was researching the radioactivity of Uranium. Pierre joined in the research and both formed a collaborative couple. They initially discovered a radioactive isotope that they named Polonium after Poland, the birthplace of Marie Curie. Then, on December 21, 1898, they discovered a second element while observing radiations from Barium. It was then named Radium. In 1902, Marie isolated it.
It was groundbreaking.
The Golden Age of Radium
The shinning Radium was considered Jack of all trades, having beneficial properties of all kinds.
